Creating a 'hive' of activity with new improvement platform
17 October 2024
A new digital platform that measures improvement activity and is free for all NHS Wales health boards and trusts, launches today (Thursday 17 October).
User-friendly reports just a click away
Managed by Improvement Cymru, ‘Hive’ is an intuitive platform that houses an organisation’s improvement activity all in one place. Co-produced with improvement teams, it provides user-friendly reports and charts in a click of a button and shows all live improvement projects within a user’s organisation.
Dominque Bird, Interim National Director Quality, Safety & Improvement, said: “We’re excited to launch Hive after spending many months building the platform and trialling it with a select group of users who provided feedback at every stage.
“Colleagues mentioned how user-friendly the reports look with minimal user input. Instead of users needing to manually draw charts using software like Excel, Hive produces easy-to-read graphs effortlessly.”
To access Hive, staff must email Improvement Cymru’s Analytics team where they’ll be given access through their Microsoft login. Then you can immediately start to use the platform to capture information and data on your improvement projects.
There’s also dedicated technical support, so if users encounter any issues with our platform, they can get in touch with our support team on the Hive SharePoint page (NHS Wales login required) for a rapid response.
Open to everyone
Hive is completely free to use, and access can be granted to any NHS Wales employee who works within improvement or whose work involves improvement.
“Having a customisable platform allows staff across all levels to use Hive. For example, Hive’s dashboard gives users instant access to live improvement activity in their organisation, which is ideal for Executive teams and senior managers who need that thorough oversight.
“As leaders are putting quality and safety at the forefront thanks to the Duty of Quality, Hive helps inform staff on how to manage improvement strategically using the data which is stored safely and securely on the platform.
“We know how pressurised and busy staff are, so we wanted to create an easy-to-use platform that keeps improvement simple and saves people time”, added Dominque.
Zoe Gibson, National Retention Lead at Health Education and Improvement Wales (HEIW) is one of the users who has helped shaped the platform by providing feedback through testing phases. “As a comprehensive quality improvement (QI) repository, Hive offers an innovative method to record, celebrate, and share retention improvement projects being undertaken across Wales.
“The availability of Hive empowers organisations to move beyond traditional, siloed approaches to improvement. It fosters a system-wide culture of collaboration, where knowledge is exchanged freely, and best practices are shared”, reflected Zoe.
Tailored training
In addition to the written user guides and video tutorials, the team can run a virtual or in-person introduction session to Hive for your team or department.
If you’re interested, or would like access straight away, get in touch with the team here (NHS Wales login required).