Improvement Cymru

We are the all-Wales Improvement service for NHS Wales - previously known as 1000 Lives Improvement. We are experts in developing, embedding, and delivering system-wide improvements across health and social care. We work closely with our partners to support them to continually improve what they do and how they do it to help create a healthier Wales. At work or in our home lives; we all improve things every day. It could be redrafting forms in work, so that they make sense to all who use them. It could be starting a couch-to-5k run programme, or improving our work-life balance. Some attempts succeed – some don’t. Regardless of the outcome, however, it’s the notion of wanting to improve that’s important. But what is the concept of Improvement – and how can it help us? Think about how you have looked to make a situation better: • How did you know something wasn’t working? • Who else did you involve in your team? • How did you test changes to make it better? • How did you know you had made things better? • Did the new and improved way last? Improvement is about providing a simple and straightforward structure to answer these questions. Improvement is learning about the system in which you work, testing ways to make it work better for you, your team and the people you care for – to give it the best chance of succeeding. Improvements don’t just happen overnight: they have to be methodically planned and delivered in a safe way – to ensure any changes you make are long-term Improvements for the better. There are models, processes and techniques to help you do this effectively; together, these are known as ‘Improvement Science’. We can help you learn more about this.