The Bevan Commission’s repository of completed innovation and improvement projects represents one of the largest collections of change in any NHS system across the globe. These projects represent the combined efforts of the leaders and teams of Bevan Exemplar professional staff. These staff herald from all corners of Wales and have undertaken the training programme and have introduced a new way of improved working to every context where health and care is practiced. These settings include alliances between internal teams within a single employer, inter-organisational working across boundaries to join up care, and unusual alliances in the third sector or with local schools. There is barely a single area of practice that has yet to benefits from the impact of a Bevan Exemplar.

Key Facts

In May 2024, The Bevan Commission hosted a Round Table discussion, bringing together leading experts from across industry to discuss the importance of employee health, corporate social responsibility and to discuss the role of industry and commerce in supporting health and wellbeing. In particular it, focused on how industry can have a greater impact on population health in Wales. The principal driver for the Round Table was to discuss how collaboration with industry can help improve the health and wellbeing of people across Wales.

This report presents insights from the “Reducing Waste in Health and Care Masterclass,” led by Professor Don Berwick KBE. This drew together feedback from senior healthcare leaders and executives to four open-ended questions. This provides a high-level perspective, offering insights informed by the discussions and a comprehensive understanding of the NHS’s complex landscape. The findings can be considered “top-down,” reflecting strategic priorities and challenges as seen by senior staff.

This document serves as a broad summary workflow designed to assist management at all levels, ranging from executive to ward level, in the design and implementation of strategies for measuring and reducing waste within healthcare. Whether addressing direct waste, such as physical waste generated within facilities, or indirect waste stemming from inefficient processes, the document offers insights and practical guidance. By catering to a diverse audience of management professionals, it ensures that stakeholders across the organisational hierarchy are equipped with the necessary tools and knowledge to drive sustainable practices and effectively manage waste within their respective domains.

This report presents an overview of the data gaps identified within the healthcare sector in Wales by the Let’s Not Waste programme which is hindering effective decarbonisation strategies.  The report outlines the current challenges in data collection and sources, utilising the WASTES framework to categorise key areas of concern.

The present strategic priorities of Health Boards and Trusts within Wales are outlined, along with their respective strengths and potential challenges. In addition, the current overall challenges to research are explored, including the prevalence of inaccessible or outdated data, compounded by the lack of Wales and England-centric data.

In response to these challenges, several recommendations are proposed. These include:

• Unifying data collection methods and standards across healthcare institutions. This will facilitate comparable analyses, providing a clearer understanding of waste and inefficiencies.
• Improving collaboration between stakeholders, including government agencies, healthcare providers, and research institutions.
• Enhancing data sharing and knowledge exchange, to better tackle waste management challenges together.
• Bolstering capacity in data collection analytics and investing in training programmes.
• Strengthening data analysis capabilities to provide deeper insights into waste patterns and as a result, enable targeted interventions.
• Training programmes to empower healthcare professionals to implement effective decarbonisation strategies, fostering a culture of sustainability and driving meaningful change within organisations.

As part of the Let’s Not Waste programme, the Bevan Commission has brought together a range of tried and tested examples of how to reduce waste across health and care in Wales. These case studies provide a useful resource for others to learn from, adapt and apply to different local contexts. The adoption and spread of these innovative examples of practice will be critical to help ensure we reduce waste in all its forms across health and care in Wales. We must all work together to ensure we have a sustainable health and care system that is fit for the future – our future.

This report presents the findings of Phase One of our Conversation with the Public.

Our healthcare system is at a tipping point, and there is no doubt that new thinking and ways of working are required to repair, protect and transform our services. We recognise that the public have a vital role to play in this transformation, through sharing their experiences, ideas and feelings around the changes that are needed.

In collaboration with NHS Wales Health Boards, Trusts and Llais, this piece of work engaged citizens across Wales in conversations about the future of health and social care services. Through seven ‘town hall’ events in each NHS Wales Health Board locality, a national online event and a survey, the project successfully gathered the insights and views of over two thousand members of the public.

The conversations revealed a strong desire for radical change whilst maintaining the founding principles of the NHS. Key themes that emerged from these conversations included: Prevention, Early Intervention, and Lifestyle; Empowerment and Shared Responsibility; Integrated Services and Support; Wider Determinants of Health; Communication; Demographics; and Workforce Challenges. These themes, consistent across regions despite some variations, provide a robust framework for future action and informing the crucial decisions that must be made to create a healthcare system that is fit for the future.