High-speed deployment: a masterclass from the NHS

I’ve had my jab! It’s just like everyone tells you, me and the Missus: entrance to exit in six minutes.

On the way home, I’ve been sharing my observations on how transformation deployment can learn from the UK’s Covid-19 vaccine programme. Strangely, Our Lass spent most of this discourse looking out of the car window and reading her texts, so I’m going to share the lessons as I see them with you, who I find to be a much more appreciative audience.

So what is the vaccine roll-out demonstrating about high-speed deployment?

The importance of a clear objective. Everyone in the country has heard a thousand times that the aim is to “offer the vaccine to all adults by July 2021”. That’s the programme objective.

It’s simple, clear and easy to understand and not full of complicated caveats. Communicated in nine words.

And it’s given the deployment programme team clear sight of what their priorities are: offer the jab, jab everyone who can be persuaded to come forward, do it fast – and six minutes to process two Aikmans is pretty fast.

The value of collaborative working.  This roll-out is undoubtedly one of the best collaborations the country has ever seen. We think of it as the work of the NHS, who are clearly leading players; but it also includes the logistical brilliance of the army; co-operation from private business, from High Street pharmacies to pharmaceutical giants; involvement of the third sector, from access to mosques and cathedrals as vaccination centres to the thousands of volunteers directing people around the car parks.

Clearly, everybody has the shared aim of Getting a Good Thing Done. No visible territories, grandstanding or glory-grabbing. IT deployment can only work quickly if it takes the same approach. Good leadership fosters collaborative working; and in turn collaborative working gets unimpeded results.

Shop local.  Leading on from collaboration, the programme is a great example of taking the advice of local experts. All kinds of contributors have been allowed to bring to bear their expertise. So we’ve seen bowling alley facilities managers help set up their premises as vaccination centres; GPs work out which patients won’t be able to book online; and Social Services contribute ideas for taking mobile vaccinations centres to the homeless.

Crucially, all these people with specialist knowledge and expertise have been listened-to and allowed to contribute to decision-making. Rapid deployment in IT transformation always benefits from that style of ears-and-mind-open listening…

How to work in phases.  I’ll wager you could all tell me which phase you were/are in for your jabs. Right from the start, it was made clear that there would be two key phases (over/under 50s), with subdivisions to each phase. The programme has stuck to those rules, despite many suggestions of the thousand other ways there are to skin a cat.

Nobody attempted Big Bang. It has never been complicated or difficult to understand which phase we are currently in, or what the timing of that phase is. Consequently, expectations are being beautifully managed.

As with all phased programmes, it has been possible to improve the deployment, as the team learned as they went. Remember at the start – people were being jabbed with both shots in a four-week window? The scientists then discovered the doses would go further and be more effective if they were delivered in a 12-week window. So Phase 1b just calmly changed the plan. No drama: more lives saved.

Governance by measurement. I bet you can also tell me roughly how many UK adults have been vaccinated up to today.  This programme has been a masterclass in how to demonstrate progress by numbers. Every day, we’re updated on increased first jabs and second jabs; and the corresponding decline of infection and mortality rates.

Now admittedly, very few programmes are resourced with the statistical capability that shows proven progress by the day – but I think for the rest of my career I will use this roll-out as a beacon-reminder of the importance of measuring and communicating progress. Which leads me onto…

Communicating consistently. Another thing we’ll all remember for a long time is the communication used in the early days of the pandemic. The legendary “Stay at home; go to work; use public transport; don’t use public transport” had my Comms colleague purple in the face. But with the vaccination programme, all former communication errors have been consigned to the realm of nostalgia-comedy.

This time, messaging coming from within the programme is crystal clear. How many times has the PM said; “when you are offered your jab, take it”? The metrics are consistent, day after day. The format for delivering key messages – the three-person press conference – is now reassuringly dull.

In all deployment programmes, there’s no limit to how often you should repeat your message until everyone has heard and had time to believe it. And who could resist a technicolor Van Tam word-picture to bring it all to life?

Calm flexibility. Things will inevitably go wrong in any deployment. The leaders of the vaccine roll-out have faced (to our knowledge, as a minimum) vaccine supply problems and shortages; international political rows; and patient scepticism, distrust and even fear. There’s no sign of anyone flouncing out or tipping over tables. They have just calmly got on with it.

They’ve shown all deployment teams the importance of calm flexibility. They’ve sourced additional vaccines; managed stakeholder expectations; and communicated clearly and intelligently about risks.

The programme – the biggest of its kind ever attempted in this country - is still motoring and is still world-class. And it’s showing those of us in IT transformation just what can be done, at scale and at speed.

Professionally, I’m beyond impressed. As a citizen, I’m bursting with pride. And we two Aikmans, on a personal level, are very grateful indeed.

Mark Aikman is the author of Uncommon Sense: Alternative Thinking on Digital Transformation

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