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2024Bevan Commission Publications

The Effectiveness of the Bevan Exemplar Programme

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Professor Nick Rich, Swansea School of Management

July 2024

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

  • The Bevan Commission has developed a truly unique learning and innovation Bevan Exemplar programme.
  • The programme is held in high regard by the Welsh (and international) health service and can be claimed as a national treasure.
  • 350+ Bevan Exemplars now exist in Wales and the Bevan Commission has one of the largest repositories of change in the world.
  • The success rates of projects range between 70 and 85% which, for the first six cohorts (2016 – 2020), has saved – by cost avoidance – approximately £11.6mn and released time for professional across Wales to invest in safer, higher quality and more responsive care. The Bevan Exemplar projects cover three areas – skills development, technology adoption and adaptation, and process transformation of service delivery.
  • The major areas of service impact include ‘future proofing’ skills and locating them at the right points and geographies in Wales, enhanced patient flows based on safety, quality, and service responsiveness.
  • The Bevan Exemplar cohorts have – as stated in my first report in 2016 – delivered a return that is truly astounding for patients, communities, health and care staff and employer organisations.
  • The Bevan Exemplar programme has quite literally saved lives whilst developing a cohort of Exemplars that are publishing the outcomes of their work, setting new professional standards, winning awards and represent the most effective form of future investment in transformative innovation in Wales.