Reflections and Thanks to our Alliance Partners
As we come to the end of the Hospital 2.0 Alliance five-week onboarding and familiarisation programme, we wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone involved.
Across the programme, the level of energy, engagement and commitment has been consistently high. What has stood out in particular is the way people have leaned into the sessions – not just attending, but actively contributing, questioning, and helping to shape the conversations and outputs.
Feedback has highlighted:
- the openness and honesty in how all the sessions have been presented, both in terms of what is well developed and where thinking is still evolving
- the clear thought and consideration that has gone into the content of the sessions and how they have been structured
- the way teams have responded constructively to feedback, challenge and a high volume of questions
There has been an increasing opportunity to build relationships – both within and across NHP, Construction Partners and Trusts. The value of bringing people together in this way is already evident, with stronger connections forming and a better understanding of each other’s priorities and perspectives developing week by week.
This week included a joint session bringing Construction Partners and Trusts together to explore the prioritisation of supply chain risks and start to collectively consider steps to mitigate these risks. The pre Easter familiarisation period concluded with an Alliance Leadership session which saw senior leaders from NHP, Trusts and construction partners coalesce on principles and behaviours. This was a significant milestone in the mobilisation process and a helpful step in starting to look collectively at how we manage some of the key delivery challenges ahead.
It’s also important to recognise the context in which this has been delivered. Many teams have been balancing this alongside significant day-to-day priorities, and the preparation time for bringing together a programme of this scale has been relatively short. Despite that, the quality of the sessions and the engagement has remained consistently strong.
To give a sense of the scale of what has been delivered over the past five weeks:
- 11 events delivered over five weeks
- with over 125 Construction Partner colleagues attending
- covering more than 30 topics, including the Alliance, Hospital 2.0 system, commercial approach, digital, sustainability, industrialisation and many more
- including 3 joint sessions with Trusts
Thank you to everyone across NHP/HDP, Trusts and our Construction Partners who have contributed to making this happen. The effort that has gone into preparing, delivering and participating in the sessions is very much appreciated. Please do pass that thanks on to your teams.
As we move into mobilisation, the programme now has something that can’t be created quickly – a shared understanding, growing relationships across the Alliance and a foundation of trust. We will take a short pause over the Easter break and look forward to recommencing conversations later this month, building on the momentum created over the past five weeks and continuing to translate this into how we work together in practice.
Onboarding to the NHP Alliance has progressed at a fast pace. The kick-off sessions brought together the NHP Team, the NHS Trust teams and the Alliance Contractor teams, for what was a really great couple of days for everyone involved to get to know each other and build the collective understanding of the challenge we all now have ahead. We already have a tangible level of enthusiasm from everyone, to get going, get working together and get the best results we can for every project in the programme.
Anna Evans, Public Sector Partnerships Director, Bovis
As the programme has moved into more detailed sessions, what’s stood out for me has been the quality of open conversations. The space created for honest two-way discussion, including where NHP thinking is still evolving, is helping us as construction partners understand perspectives, build trust early and see where we can support, add value and collectively solve challenges as a collaborative Alliance.
The early involvement of Trust teams and the focus on the core ingredients for success – people, purpose and processes – already feels like it’s shaping a strong Alliance identity. Mobilisation has felt thoughtful rather than rushed, with real intent to build the relationships and ways of working that will underpin success.
This is clearly just the beginning, but the momentum, openness and collaborative mindset so far gives real confidence for our future success and achievement of the outcomes this transformational programme is seeking to achieve.
Rebecca Garcia, Alliance Director, Kier
What excites me most is the potential beyond the hospitals themselves. The way the alliance brings together contractors, consultants, digital partners and the NHS to co-develop standardised solutions, invest in skills and drive social value, that feels like a blueprint for how the industry should be delivering major programmes.
Anastasia Chrysafi, Healthcare & NHP Alliance Lead, Willmott Dixon
