Our challenge was to manage a programme like no other. To deliver the maximum available doses of vaccine to achieve the highest uptake in priority groups. All of which were delivered at a rapid pace and under massive public scrutiny.
Objective
To maximise the take up of different vaccines that need to be administered in different ways. This involved managing different observation times, changing dose intervals, different delivery models from inside a hospital to roving pop-ups, and changing supply capacity.
We needed to keep up with the rapid pace of different groups of people becoming eligible and different behaviours, to maintain the demand. Finding and talking to hard-to-reach groups was key to success.
What we did
Whilst nothing could prepare for the pace and intensity of the programme, the team were fully aware of the importance of the programme in making a positive impact on the everyday lives of the entire population. As a result, extremely robust induction processes were put in place for each of our PMO staff.
Our key challenges were the size, scale, fluidity and pace, all of which was unprecedented and could be overwhelming. It was therefore essential that the team we put in place was flexible, adaptable and resilient as the programme changed rapidly and as a result, so did the requirements of the PMO team.
We had specific workstreams looking at data and technology, as well as workforce, clinical and evaluation. Throughout we had a central PMO team as well as PMO teams in each workstream.
Each PMO team member embedded themselves within their workstream, getting an understanding of the programme and most importantly carving out a critical path for delivery, saving delivery teams precious time by taking on reporting processes so that those teams could focus on giving every individual the opportunity to get vaccinated.
A new approach was applied in two key areas: lessons learnt and the PMO remit.- Lessons learnt - it is standard practice to complete lessons learnt at the end of a project. Due to the fluidity and complexity of this project, our team decided a different approach was needed. 'Lessons learnt’ became a regular agenda item and process enabling key learnings from one week to be utilised efficiently for decisions for the coming week. The approach to lessons learnt was about celebrating success and what could have made things better.
- Role of the PMO - our team needed to be flexible and adaptable to meet the challenges of this programme. With a real can-do attitude, the highly skilled PMO team offered what has been described as ‘PMO Platinum’ service, essentially taking on and managing requirements that would not typically sit within the PMO role, but the team had the ability, and skillset but most importantly the desire to support on what was needed and without exception rose to the challenge.
Activity
PMO implementation, operation and turnaround
Communications and engagement
At-scale programmes
Outcome
- As of 31 March 2023, the NHS had administered more than 144 million COVID-19 vaccinations in England with around 4.5 million spring boosters (85% of those eligible aged 75 and over) [AB1] and 17.5 million autumn boosters (72% of those eligible aged 5 and over) [AB2] delivered during the year.
- Thanks to the dedication of NHS staff and volunteers, working with local authority and community partners, countless lives have been saved, the country has been able to resume life without lockdown, and health services have been able to focus on recovering wider services.
- Significant improvement in records management across the programme, with a 23% improvement in records compliance since we took over the function.
