Final update of icare's Improvement Program released

icare has successfully delivered the Improvement Program on 30th June 2024. Promontory recognised that the Improvement Program represented a significant undertaking by icare, addressing 107 Recommendations across two Sub-Programs, 11 Streams and 63 Initiatives.

The report notes that the Improvement Program has delivered on all three of its objectives:

• improving Risk and Governance,
• improving Performance, and
• driving an Accountable Culture.  

The report also acknowledges that while a small number of Initiatives and Recommendations were not fully complete by 30 June these do not reflect on the quality of the work completed or the appropriateness of icare’s delivery approach.

They acknowledged that these five Initiatives are complex and recognised the importance of allowing additional time for them to be fully embedded into BAU, noting they will be finalised later in 2024, with final external assurance due by January 2025.

The report also calls out the positive organisation-wide outcomes across Governance and Accountability, Culture and Capability, prioritisation of Customer and uplifted Infrastructure and Systems. Specifically, they observed:

• A strengthening of Governance and accountability at all levels enabling more effective oversight, better decision-making and clearer ownership of risks, decisions and actions.
• Significant effort in cultivating an open, constructive and accountable culture has fostered a ‘commendable’ cultural turnaround underpinned by a refreshed set of organisational values.
• ‘The voice of the customer now resonates strongly across the organisation and across all governance forums, with a clear focus on improving customer outcomes’.
• icare has demonstrated a robust commitment to continuous improvement, actively responding to learnings, insights and feedback, including those identified in their Quarterly Updates.

Finally, Promontory emphasised the future focus areas required to sustain the improvements. These are:

• maintaining momentum by integrating the Program achievements into icare’s “operational fabric” and keeping these achievements front of mind by both leaders and staff;
• leadership commitment to build on the momentum of the Program, and ensure outcomes are sustained, including continuing to ‘walk the talk’; and
• promoting a culture of continuous improvement.

This is the final Promontory Update for the Improvement Program. However, this update and all the previous Promontory quarterly updates on the progress of our Improvement Program will be available publicly on our website, helping us build trust and confidence with our communities.