Insights

Delivering service change in the NHS is rarely simple. Even with the best intentions, programmes can stall, lose focus or create avoidable tension. Based on years of experience working alongside NHS teams, here are five of the most common pitfalls we see and practical ways to avoid them. 1. Unrealistic timescales and optimism bias Too…

For years we lacked clarity on what the requirement is in temporary service change situations, then in 2020, an NHS Trust made urgent temporary changes to some services as part of its phase 2 COVID-19 response. The decision was challenged in court. The Dawson case, as it is known, looked at whether this Trust had…

Our director, Caroline Latta, joins Ruth Dale on the latest episode of the Brain Fuel podcast for a thoughtful and uplifting conversation about what real co-design looks like when you stop relying on surveys and start creating experiences. The episode highlights a very special short breaks project where the Olovus team created experiences that helped…

This week our team is joining colleagues at the Pain Management Conference to share a story that has stayed with us, the citizens’ jury on persistent pain we ran with Health Innovation North East and North Cumbria (HI NENC). At first glance, it was a regional health challenge: some of the highest rates of opioid…

In our last blog, we talked about the model ICB blueprint as an opportunity, not just a restructure. A shift towards more inclusive, evidence-informed commissioning, where public involvement is core, not a bolt-on. But let’s be honest, how we do involvement matters just as much as whether it’s mentioned in a strategy. Because despite all…

There’s been a lot of commentary around the new model ICB blueprint,  most of it focused on what’s being “stripped away” from commissioning. But what if we flipped the narrative? Less function doesn’t have to mean less value. In fact, fewer functions could be an opportunity to slow down, gather better insights, and use them…

Getting Section 251 approval from the Health Research Authority’s Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) isn’t just about paperwork. It’s about proving that when confidential patient data is used without consent, it’s done responsibly, with the right safeguards, and in a way that earns public trust. For two secure data environments (SDEs), a key challenge was demonstrating…

The courts are continually refining consultation law. As the challenges become more detailed, so do the rulings. It means we’re constantly learning! This case, Clifford, R (On the Application Of) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2025] EWHC 58 (Admin) reminds prospective consultors that transparency, understanding your target audience, and treating consultees fairly…

The list of US private sector giants cancelling their diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programmes and removing pledges from their websites since the election of Donald Trump continues to grow. It must be awful for staff and customers of these organisations who come from marginalised communities and it makes me wonder whether DEI (or EDI…

It’s been a year now since the establishment of new powers for the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in relation to major service change. The ‘call-in’ power was built into the Health and Care Act 2022 and, after some political ping pong and departmental development, was enacted in January 2024. So how…

It’s been quite a week for the NHS at a national level. Hot on the heels of a Public Accounts Committee report questioning the ambition and drive behind the forthcoming 10-year plan, the House of Commons Health Committee has voiced concerns over NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard’s evidence. Meanwhile, the government’s new planning guidance—Road…

This week the government announced that the New Hospital Programme, originally launched in 2019 by the then Conservative government, has a revised timetable for delivery. Where many systems were preparing to lay the groundwork (literally and metaphorically) for construction, this recent announcement is a huge setback to delivery. It’s good news that management of the…

We’ve been supporting commissioners and providers to gather feedback on learning disability short breaks, involving people with learning difficulties and complex needs and their families in rethinking short break services in their area. We asked Stand’s Gail Cobb to tell us about the trips she and the team organised for families to experience some different short…

Lord Darzi has published his independent rapid review of the NHS. The report is an important first step in identifying the problems facing the NHS, shedding light on its increasingly precarious state, revealing significant deterioration over the past 15 years.  The review highlights critical issues including long waits for children’s mental health services, underperformance in…

One of the biggest pieces of work when delivering an NHS major service change programme is to formally consult members of the public. From pre-consultation engagement to extensive media and stakeholder planning, to independent analysis, the process of public consultation can seem mountainous. So why do we carry out public consultations in the first place?…

That we are more than halfway through the general election will be welcome news to many. If the outcome of the election is clear and a government is formed quickly, we can look forward to NHS England’s pre-election guidance being lifted straight away and the business of patient involvement and public consultation resuming. Over the…

As the health and care landscape in England continues to evolve, the NHS is navigating a series of pivotal changes aimed at improving service delivery and patient outcomes.  At Stand, we are committed to staying at the forefront of these developments, providing insights and support to help drive effective change.  This June, we are excited…

It’s hard to believe that it’s now been a year since I hung up my regulatory boots and made the move from NHS England (NHSE) to Stand. In that time I have been overwhelmed by the amount of great stuff I’ve had the joy of working on with my new colleagues. During my time at…

A little while ago, we were playing around with ChatGPT and prompted it to explain the Gunning Principles, the legal requirements for public consultation, in the style of superstar drag queen, RuPaul Charles. The result amused us and we posted that on socials as a bit of Friday fun. Fast forward a couple of months…

Hi, it’s Callum again. You may remember me from such hits as my “Starting with Stand” blog that I wrote a couple of years ago. A lot has changed since then, not least the fact that I’ll not be with Stand for much longer. The 15th of December, my 922nd day at Stand, is my…

In many ways, the passing of the Health and Care Act in 2022 feels both a moment and a life time ago. In that time we have seen Integrated Care Systems formally established, Integrated Care Boards and Integrated Care Partnerships formalised, and systems operating – and beginning to think – in much larger footprints, while…

On the 30th June NHS England published the highly anticipated NHS Long Term Workforce Plan. It’s a doozy of a document, coming in at over 150 pages. Here at Stand we’re wondering: what do these plans mean for public involvement? In the plan, NHS England details its ambition to train, retain and reform the NHS…

June is Pride month. All around the country people will be out celebrating diversity at community events large and small. There will be glitter. There will be face paint. There will be brightly coloured feather boas (and that’s just in my house!). There will be flags. Progress pride flags. Trans pride flags. Bi pride flags.…

Last week, the government announced the next wave of hospitals to be included in England’s New Hospitals Programme (NHP), the largest capital infrastructure project for NHS estates in recent times and the biggest access to significant capital that Trusts have been able to get in a long time. But it isn’t all roses: many of the…

You think you need help to get your service change project delivered, but how do you choose the right consultancy to help you? Budgets are tight and timelines short for NHS service change project managers and programme directors. Getting the right strategic advice and expert delivery you get provided by the right specialist patient and…

The 2023 pre-election period is a week old. Every year when it kicks in, the phones at Stand Towers ring and our inboxes start to ping with quite reasonable questions about what it means and how it should be applied locally. This is the first time Integrated Care Boards have dealt with scheduled elections, so…

A few days ago, the UK government published its response to a public consultation it held in late 2021 on changes to flexible working laws. Now, the outputs of so many UK government consultations end their days languishing in a Whitehall black hole with no prospect of ever informing public discussion, that “Government publishes response…

The news that local authorities in England will retain their power to refer disputed health service reconfiguration proposals to the Secretary of State “until the new reconfiguration provisions take effect” will make many NHS programme managers a bit twitchy. Especially when coupled with the news that “changes to the reconfiguration process introduced through the Health…

When I interviewed Caroline and Paul about our plans for Stand at the beginning of the year, we didn’t expect to be an award winning team six months into it. Paul and Caroline are very modest about the work that they do, but given what they’ve achieved in two years, I decided to enter Stand…

Moving from options development into a public consultation period is one of the most challenging aspects for any strategic change programme. Stand’s director, Caroline Latta, shares four key considerations to have in mind when planning your consultation timeline. Picture the scene. You’ve worked hard with clinical teams, commissioners, stakeholders, patients and partners, and there’s strong…

You know how it is. You’ve worked hard to get your change programme off to a good start. Scope agreed. Objectives endorsed. Budget approved. Clinicians are actively engaged and you’re getting a great response to your patient involvement activity. Everything appears to be swimming along nicely. Then, at an open engagement event, in response to…

In a week of heart wrenching stories from Ukraine filling our social feeds, a little nugget of NHSEI (NHS England and NHS Improvement) news was enough to bring a little light into my day. That news? The NHSEI system transformation team launched a new interactive handbook for service change. Granted, the list of people this…

The COVID-19 vaccination programme has been the runaway success of the UK’s response to the pandemic. Stand were asked to support the North East and North Cumbria’s COVID-19 Vaccination Programme, providing strategic communication and involvement advice and operational support to the vaccination programme’s leadership team. The mission – to vaccinate as many people as possible,…

Planning a service change programme is hard at any time. Differing partner priorities, competing stakeholder expectations, and challenging political environments are just a few of the many variables that demand our attention when we’ve got that blank Gantt in front of us. It’s no wonder, then, that the first things we reach for are those…

It’s a new year full of new possibilities and I decided to ask our directors, Caroline Latta and Paul Parsons, what they have planned for Stand in the year ahead. Here’s what they had to say. Caroline: The way we’ve planned has changed since we started. At the beginning there was lots of next-week and…

Hi, I’m Callum and I’m the communications and engagement intern at Stand. I’m straight out of university and this is my first experience of a professional work environment. My lovely colleagues have asked me to write about my first impressions and the kind of things that I’ve been involved in since joining the company. I…

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