Theatres Together Project Spotlight
Shaping Change continues to support the Theatres team in delivering its response to a formal review, which set out 66 recommendations for improvement. This is a long‑term piece of work, and at the six‑month point, 35% of the recommendations have already been completed.
In a recent Away Day, Thomas Kitchen (Clinical Director) shared the key areas of progress made to date. Staff had the opportunity to provide feedback, including many positive comments, particularly in relation to:
- Staffing, teamwork, and culture
- Improvements to processes and communication
- Equipment, facilities, and systems
- Recruitment and workforce development
Shaping Change has been involved in supporting the Theatres team to deliver these recommendations. From the outside, it can be hard to understand the level of work that goes into supporting projects like this, so we asked each of our team members to break down exactly what they’ve been working on…
Sue’s Project Management
Shaping Change’s Programme Manager Sue Hostler, has been heavily involved in supporting the team, here’s how she’s been getting on…
“Over the past few months, I’ve been closely involved in the Theatres Together programme, helping to turn 66 improvement recommendations into a clear, deliverable plan. One of my key contributions has been developing a structured framework that groups these recommendations into manageable tranches, allowing the team to approach delivery in a phased, focused, and realistic way.”
This level of complexity could easily become overwhelming. By breaking the work down into priority‑based tranches with defined timescales, the team can maintain focus, reduce the risk of scope creep, and concentrate first on the areas that will have the most impact.
“Working with colleagues, I’ve supported the establishment of strong governance arrangements, introducing a monthly Project Board and weekly scrum meetings to maintain momentum, alignment, and visibility across all workstreams. Alongside this, we implemented a comprehensive risks and issues log, enabling better cross‑team collaboration and proactive problem‑solving.
To strengthen reporting, I helped the team design a new board report template which has since been adopted as a standard for other projects. We also supported the creation of a dashboard that clearly tracks progress and outcomes, helping leaders make more data‑informed decisions.”
Structured governance is essential; it isn’t just bureaucracy. In busy clinical environments where delivery can easily lose momentum, it’s crucial for visibility and shared ownership.
Regular touchpoints, accountability, and clear reporting ensure the project stays on track and risks are addressed before they escalate.
“As part of the programme’s engagement activity, we contributed to the Theatres Together Away Day, ensuring staff feedback was captured and fed directly into planning for the next phase of work.
Overall, Shaping Change has provided the programme with a delivery framework, governance model, and ongoing advisory support that have helped build a strong foundation for sustained improvement and successful delivery.”
Kate’s Scrubs Service Improvement
Kate is a Service Improvement Manager in Shaping Change. She has been tasked with improving the challenges with scrubs availability. She said:
“I’ve been working closely with Nikki Rabone (Service Manager, Peri Operative Care) and the wider team to understand the challenges that are being experienced across theatres with scrubs processes. We have focused our efforts so far on getting the procurement data to quantify the baseline of scrubs orders, understanding the experience of other health boards and hearing from our staff in CAV to get a clear picture of the challenges we face with our scrubs processes and the impact this is having on our staff and the care they provide.
We’ve had a great response from staff on this matter which is helpful for us to get a real sense of the problem and perspectives from those affected by this issue to be able to work together to improve it. A challenge we are currently facing is trying to improve communication and laundering processes with an external supplier that we have little control or influence over.”
Kate and the team have taken time to truly understand the problem. They have started with curiosity, not assumptions by digging into the data, gathering experiences from staff, and benchmarking against other health boards. This ensures they fully understand the root causes before making changes.
Taking time to explore the problem from multiple angles ensures we avoid jumping to solutions that don’t address the real issues.
Feedback from Theatres
Laura Hodges (Deputy Director of Nursing) and Thomas Kitchen (Clinical Director) are part of the Theatres Together Directorate and have been leading the project.
Laura said: “Our Theatres Together team is incredibly grateful for the unwavering support we’ve received from Shaping Change. Their commitment, depth of knowledge, and highly skilled approach have been instrumental in helping us grow and develop as a cohesive team. They have empowered us to drive forward positive, sustainable change, and their partnership has made a meaningful difference in the way we work and the progress we continue to make.”
Our team is thoroughly enjoying working with Laura and Thomas and the rest of the team, they are brilliant examples of compassionate leaders, willing to deliver improvements with a collaborative approach.