Ward teams participating in Cohort 2 are beginning their journey of:
- Working with their coaches for project coaching for teams to implement their change idea, and improve the culture for staff and patients. This is being supported via five hours of team coaching over 5 months.
- Holding reflective practice sessions facilitated by nominated team members who have, or will have, attended a 2-day training course, and are being supported through ongoing group supervision
- Supporting members of their team to develop their practice in line with the Culture of Care standards, through individual coaching sessions
- Preparing to meet over summer Community of Practice event
Over 60 ward teams form Cohort 2 of the Culture of Care: Staff Care and Development programme.
From Cohort 1, a huge range of projects are being implemented to improve staff care and development.
- Some projects included improving cultural awareness on wards through creating the role of an Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Champion, having regular coffee chats across shift patterns on topics such as anti-racism, and linking into resources offered by providers to set up training and Q&As for staff and service users.
- Other projects focused on improving staff communication through updated handover processes, healthcare support worker participation in MDT meetings, and safety huddles.
- Some ward teams also began instituting protected 1:1 time between assigned staff members and service users, to build trusting relationships.
This is just a flavour of some of the projects teams worked on - we're excited to see what the Cohort 2 teams will implement between March and September 2025.
Share your story
If you have a highlight or shout-out to share from your ward's experience of the Culture of Care programme, we'd love to hear from you!
Email us
Our Training Workshop
On the 27th / 28th March 2025, we met with 198 members of staff for an in-person day of training in Birmingham. At this workshop, attendees heard from a range of experts and started to identify the priorities for change for their wards.
Alongside learning more about the Culture of Care standards, participants explored ways to practice therapeutic, compassionate conversations, and the impact of equity issues on wards, such as unconscious bias and privilege.
A summary of the themes discussed is shown in the graphic synthesis above.
Our Staff Survey
We are in the process of collecting anonymous responses from members of staff working on participating wards.
Wards which submitted over the threshold of 5 responses will also have an individual report shared with them.
Our Community of Practice
All participating wards will join us for our Community of Practice events, to hear about each other's progress, and share tips and solutions to common challenges. Summaries of the conversations at these events during cohort 1 are below:
Our Newsletters
Sign up to join our mailing list, to receive programme updates, helpful tools for implementing change programmes and hear stories from other wards participating on the programme. Our previous newsletters are below:
Programme materials for participating ward teams
Delivering and embedding co-production approaches
- Co-production is...: a framework for understanding the levels of service user involvement
- Culture of Care standards [Easy Read]: a more accessible overview of the 12 Culture of Care standards for people with limited capacity or additional needs
- Guide to transformative co-production: a practical guide giving advice on the process and practice of co-production
- Empowering lived experience in governance: a webinar in which speakers reflect on the role of lived experience in governance and decision making
Structuring problem-solving and projects
- Five Whys: a thought exercise to guide thinking towards considering the root causes of an issue
- Plan on a Page: a tool to guide problem solving towards a solution in a structured approach, considering timing, resourcing, and scope
- Pugh matrix: a structure to compare different ideas and issues against several criteria to build a clear view of prioritisation
- Prioritisation matrix: a simple structure to support with prioritising ideas (balancing potential impact with effort required)
Understanding and addressing inequity
- Inequity waste wheel: a tool to help consider and avoid inequitable consequences of proposed change ideas
- Privilege primer: a reflective exercise to help understand and recognise privilege
- Equity learning pathway: a tool to help process improvement efforts through an equity lens
Wider reading resources
Read more about our comprehensive offer for staff care & development
Ward culture lies at the heart of the quality of care a ward can provide. Our offer for staff provides space for ward teams to discuss their current practices, design improvements together, and work with us to implement locally led change.
Our Offer