Digital Programme and Project Management

The NHS is investing heavily in digitisation, and digital projects are at the forefront of improving patient care. 

Our experienced practitioners have a successful history in the management of a wide portfolio of programmes and projects. These include technical projects, complex clinical system implementations and digital optimisation work which aim to enhance care through patient empowerment, collaboration and by improving the way information is shared across health and care settings. 

Within the service, there is a strong clinical focus, with dedicated Clinical Business Change Leads (see page 38) ensuring that digital programmes and projects are clinically-led to deliver real benefit for patient care and empowerment, and support the NHS digital transformation vision. 

Service features

IT Programme Management 

Our Programme Managers have a wealth of knowledge and experience of managing complex digital programmes and their associated projects. 

We can help you by:

• Improving the management of project interdependencies and impact on the business as usual.
• Effectively managing resources among projects within a programme.
• Managing risks, issues, and changes across the programme efficiently.
• Focusing on definition, management, and measurement of strategic benefits.

IT Project Management 

Our IT Project Management approach is based on proven methodologies, best practice frameworks, specialist expertise and exceptional wraparound digital support.  As a service we operate within an agreed governance framework where decisions and key deliverables are managed, and roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. The service we offer can be scaled to suit the specific size and complexity of your project. This enables on-time, accurate and cost-effective delivery by ensuring risk, time and resources are managed throughout the project’s life cycle. 

We can help you by:

• Providing a complete IT Project Management service from project definition through to implementation using best practice frameworks, methodologies and tools.
• Providing a consistent approach to project delivery. 
• Providing a single point of contact, with full accountability for the project, including communication and escalation.
• Enhancing organisational decision-making through the inclusion of all necessary stakeholders in key decisions.
• Minimising disruption to ‘business as usual’ as defined processes and plans adhere to strict governance, with clearly defined roles, responsibilities and processes.
• Reducing the associated risks of your project, maximising the chances of delivery on time, within budget and in accordance with your clinical and business objectives.
• Proactively supporting change management and benefits realisation, with training and clinical business change representation involved as part of our project approach.
• Providing a comprehensive handover – ensuring the completed project is thoroughly appraised, documented with lessons learnt and handed over to the operational team prior to project closure. 

Service standards

• Our programme and project managers are qualified and proficient in MSP, PRINCE2 and agile methodologies. 
• The team is also actively working with Health Education England’s NHS Project Futures Programme to embed national standards of Programme and Project Management in the NHS.

Recent projects

• Supporting the digital requirements for the refurbishment of a large inpatient unit - installing new IT equipment, implementing a new state-of-the-art patient entertainment solution and managing the implementation of clinical system access including the deployment of a new electronic patient risk monitoring system.
• Developing an online platform to facilitate an electronic consent and triage model for school-age immunisations and vaccinations (pictured below) covering Liverpool, Sefton, St Helens and Knowsley.
• Developing a dedicated booking system for patients to book blood test appointments online to support service redesign in response to COVID-19.
• Supporting the digital requirements and set up of the vaccination centres for Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust aligned with local and national policy including the implementation of an online booking system called Simply Book.me, providing support for daily reporting and implementing digital communications solutions for managing appointment information and reminders.