A pragmatic sequence for standing up the program. Timings are indicative — compress or extend to fit your context, but keep the order.

Phase 0 — Diagnose (weeks 1–2)

• Complete the maturity self-assessment and gap analysis
• Map stakeholders and confirm executive sponsorship
• Agree the target maturity move and solution track

Phase 1 — Design (weeks 3–5)

• Draft and approve the program charter
• Complete committee terms of reference and the accountability map
• Define the starter scorecard and indicator owners

Phase 2 — Stand up (weeks 6–8)

• Convene committees and induct members
• Launch incident reporting and the scorecard
• Train initial improvement and patient-safety capability

Phase 3 — Operate (weeks 9–12)

• Run the first full governance cycle end to end
• Start unit-based PDSA cycles against priorities
• Report assurance to the board and feed decisions back to the frontline

Beyond 90 days — Mature

• Engineer reliability into high-risk processes
• Build the just-culture and learning-system disciplines
• Re-run the maturity assessment and plan the next move