As part of Fab Change Day, 19 October 2016, people, teams and organisations across the NHS and its partner organisations are taking part in the world’s largest Randomised Coffee Trial (RCT). A Randomised Coffee Trial is a simple but powerful idea that was invented by Nesta, an independent charity. You pair people up at random across your organisation and give them the opportunity to have a cup of coffee and a chat together. RCTs break down silos and get people connecting and learning from each other. This pack will provide you with all the information you need about RCTs, the benefits, how to get involved and/or how to run your own local event. The RCT pack is brought to you by the Horizons Team. If you have any questions about RCTs or this pack, please email england.si-horizons@nhs.net.

1. How to set up a Randomised Coffee Trial
(RCT) and get the NHS talking again!
Organise your RCT during the week commencing
Monday 17 October 2016
#FabRCT #FabChangeDay

2. TRIAL
RANDOMISED
Set up your own RCT across your
organisation or system
Organise a RCT at your conference or
meeting
Take part in the countrywide RCTs for people
with a shared passion or interest
MENU
1.
2.
3.
After the event and further reading
Introduction
Decide what type of RCT you would like to run
Often, as leaders, we are aware
of what is going on in our
organisations but we are not as
involved or as connected as we
could be. Randomised Coffee Trials
are such a simple but powerful
way of getting meaningful
connections going which can lead
to real change.
Helen Bevan, Horizons team, NHS England
‘‘
’’
#FabRCT

3. As part of Fab Change Day, 19 October
2016, people, teams and organisations
across the NHS and its partner
organisations are taking part in the
world’s largest Randomised Coffee Trial
(RCT).
Why should you get involved?
Because front line NHS staff keep telling us
they are experiencing less and less real-life,
meaningful face-to-face interactions with
other staff. In an era of complex workloads
and electronic systems, we have lost the
art of conversation and the many benefits
it brings. We want to get the NHS talking
again.
A Randomised Coffee Trial (RCT) is a simple
but powerful idea that was invented by
Nesta, an independent charity. You pair
people up at random across your organisation
and give them the opportunity to have a cup
of coffee and a chat together. RCTs break
down silos and get people connecting and
learning from each other.
Conversation is a seriously underestimated
tool for learning and change. RCTs are
an effective, evidence-based way to build
networks, break down silos, encourage
collaboration and create real connections.
Hundreds of organisations across the public,
private and voluntary sectors have introduced
RCTs with great results.
We don’t prescribe the topic of the
conversation for a RCT. During your coffee,
you can talk about absolutely anything.
This pack will provide you with all the
information you need about RCTs, the
benefits, how to get involved and/or how
to run your own local event. But if you need
any more information after reading this pack,
please pick up the phone and talk to us!
What kind of Randomised Coffee Trial do
you want to take part in?
There are three types of RCT that you can set
up and/or take part in, all based on the same
principle of getting the NHS talking again.
You need to decide which type of RCT you
want. You can choose one type or all three
types:
1. Set up your own RCT across your
organisation or system
2. Organise a RCT at your conference or
meeting
3. Take part in the countrywide RCTs
for people with a shared passion or
interest
How much does it cost to run a RCT?
There is no cost to the RCT other than
the time to organise, the time for the
conversations and the cost of the coffee!
For the countrywide RCTs, we are expecting
hundreds and hundreds of people, so we
will be using an automated system by Spark
Collaboration. For your local RCTs, an excel
spreadsheet is likely to be sufficient. However,
you might choose to invest in a system like
Spark Collaboration if you are going to run
RCTs on a regular basis.
Introduction
3
#FabRCT

4. You ask people across your organisation
to sign up to take part in the RCT. You
then pair them up at random and give
them the opportunity to have a cup of
coffee and a chat with each other. Once
you have sent people details of their ‘pair’, it
is up to them to get in touch with each other
and organise a chat over coffee. It need not
be coffee - it can be any drink or refreshment,
whatever works best for them. If people are
on different sites, they can have a virtual RCT,
say over Skype or the phone, still with a cup
of coffee!
You can organise your RCT within your
department or organisation or you can
extend the invitation to people in partner
organisations such as community groups,
commissioner partners, GP practices, hospital
trusts, care homes etc.
Here is our advice on how to set up your
own local RCT to get great outcomes:
1. Tell the leaders of your organisation or
department all about the world’s largest
RCT along with the benefits for your
team, organisation and patients. If you
can get your leaders to support your RCT
and it gets made ‘official’, more people
are likely to take part. When you have
these conversations with leaders, you
could even ask your leadership team to
provide the coffee or biscuits!
2. Decide the format of your RCT: is it
just your department or the whole
organisation? Is it the whole local health
and care system? Does it include patient
leaders, governors and volunteers?
3. Agree the dates for your RCT. Although
most of the action for Fab Change Day is
taking place on Wednesday 19 October,
we suggest that you run the RCT during
the week commencing 17 October. Your
pairs can link up for their cup of coffee
any time during that week.
4. Agree who will be the voluntary
coordinators of your RCT. These people
need to have good organising skills and
love connecting with others. Then set
up an email address for your local RCT.
You could speak to your IT team or set
up a free account like Hotmail, Yahoo or
Gmail.
Type 1: Set up your own RCT across your
organisation or system
My RCT was really insightful, we talked about the ‘#HelloMyNameIs’
campaign and how a different Trust has been able to successfully
implement the campaign. I got lots of hints and tips to support the
way we improve care in my organisation.
Sarah Donald
4
#FabRCT

5. 5. Create an Excel spreadsheet to keep a log
of people signing up for your RCT. Here is
a template you can use.
6. Publicise your RCT widely and invite
people to register via your RCT email
address (see step 4 above). Click here to
download and personalise posters and
flyers. Personalise this wording for an all
staff email. Remember to include your
RCT email address on all communications.
Don’t just wait for people to respond
to your posters or emails. People are
ten times more likely to sign up to your
RCT because of a personal contact or
connection:
• Find influential people who can
publicise your RCT and help sign
people up
• Get your communications team
to help
• If you have a RVS coffee shop, ask the
RVS team to join in
• Tweet about your RCT using the
hashtag #FabRCT
• Make sure that all the senior leaders
and clinicians sign up to set an
example for everyone else.
7. As people sign up to take part, add their
contact details to the RCT spreadsheet
and encourage them to sign up more
of their friends and colleagues. About
three weeks before the event, start the
RCT matching process. This can be as
simple or complex as you wish and more
information can be found via this link -
Matching up RCT pairs.
8. Once you have matched the people on
your list, email both parties to introduce
them to each other. It is now up to
them to organise their schedules to find
a suitable time and venue. You can
personalise this draft email.
9. Keep publicising and repeating steps 8
and 9 as new people become interested.
Expect to get a last minute rush as more
people find out about the RCT.
10. After the event, send an email to all the
participants asking how they found the
experience and what were the benefits
for them and the organisation.
11. Please let us know how you got on (see
section on ‘after the RCT’ below) and
tweet about your experience using the
hashtag #FabRCT
I work in the pathology
specimen reception and
having a Randomised
Coffee Trial with a patient
really brought home the
importance of my role.
Anthony Jones
5
#FabRCT

6. You can organise a RCT instead of a
normal coffee break at your meeting
or conference. Prior to the coffee break
in your conference or meeting, you
give people a sticker with a (randomly
assigned) number on it. Someone else
in the room will have the same number.
The pairs find each other and have coffee
together and typically find many kinds of
interesting and unexpected connections.
Here is our advice on how to set up
and deliver your RCT at a conference or
meeting to get great outcomes:
1. Decide whether a RCT will work for your
meeting. In small meetings it works best
where most people don’t know each
other well. For big meetings there will be
more people who don’t know each other
so a RCT is likely to work really well.
2. Build in a 30 minute slot in the meeting/
conference agenda for the RCT to take
place.
3. Prepare RCT stickers for your event. The
template for the stickers is here. If there
are 60 people at your meeting, write the
number ‘1’ on two of the stickers, the
number ‘2’ on two of the stickers and
so on, up to the number 30. Write the
numbers with a big marker pen so people
can see the numbers clearly when they
are seeking out their RCT partner.
4. Prior to the coffee break, give everyone
a sticker with a (randomly assigned)
number on it and ask them to put it
on their lapel or equivalent space. You
can do this at registration or when the
participants are doing group work prior
to the coffee break. It is best to avoid
giving people on the same table the
same numbers so start numbering from
different parts of the room.
5. At the start of the coffee break, the chair
or facilitator of the conference should
announce the process and help the pairs
to find each other. If there are more than
50 people taking part, it can get quite
difficult for people to find each other.
Therefore we suggest putting a flipchart
or large notice in each of the four corners
of the room that says, e.g. ‘numbers 1-15
here’, ‘numbers 16-30 here’, ‘numbers
31-45 here’ and ‘numbers 46-60 here’
and directing people to their
appropriate corners.
Type 2: Organise a RCT at your conference or meeting
6
#FabRCT

7. I’m a mental health nurse and I had a RCT with a police officer. We
talked about processes, constraints and the challenges we both have.
We often see each other in A&E and we now have a really good
relationship. We can empathise with each other and have been able
to improve patient care.
Rebecca Dale
6. There will always be people who cannot
find their pair. The other person will
have sneaked out to make a phone call
or gone to the bathroom. Therefore the
chair/facilitator should announce that
anyone who cannot find their partner
should come to the front. The chair/
facilitator should reallocate the people
with no partners to each other on a
random basis.
7. The chair or facilitator should make
it clear exactly what time participants
are expected back in the meeting or
conference. People have such interesting
and unexpected conversations during
their RCTs that it is often VERY difficult to
get them back!
8. After the RCT coffee break, the chair/
facilitator should debrief the experience:
• Who had a RCT with someone where
they found an amazing coincidence?
• What did you find you had in
common?
• Is anyone planning any specific
actions as a result of their RCT
experience?
Please let us know how you got on (see
section on ‘after the RCT’ below) and
tweet about the experience using the
hashtag #FabRCT
7
#FabRCT

8. The Horizons team will be hosting seven
countrywide virtual RCTs for people with
a shared passion or interest.
The seven RCTs are:
1. Mental health
2. Dementia
3. HomeFirst
4. Patient safety
5. Staff wellbeing
6. NHS England colleagues
7. Learning and leading together:
patients included
People can select which RCT they wish to
take part in via this link. They will then be
randomly paired up with someone else,
somewhere in the country, who shares the
same passion or interest. It is then up to the
pair to get in touch with each other and
organise a chat over coffee either though
Skype, facetime or phone.
The suggested time for an RCT is
approximately 30 minutes, but they can be
longer or shorter to fit with schedules and
depending on where the conversation takes
you!
You can get further details of the seven
countrywide RCTs on the Spark Collaboration
website. It is really easy to sign up:
• Click on one of the RCT groups listed on
the left hand side of this page or access
the online collaboration tool via this link.
• We will randomly match you with a person
somewhere else in the country with the
same passion or interest. We will send you
their contact details and it is up to the pair
of you to arrange a virtual cup of coffee
during the week commencing 17 October,
by Skype, facetime or phone. If you do not
receive an email, please check your junk
email, just in case it has been delivered
there instead of your inbox.
Type 3: Take part in the countrywide RCTs for people with
a shared passion or interest
I work in support services and was
persuaded to get involved – I’m
glad I had my arm twisted as I now
understand more about the wards
I support. I have changed my ways
of working since the RCT. At my
request, I’m now having RCT’s
each month with different people
in my organisation.
James Lock
8
#FabRCT
• Jo in the Horizons team will email you
afterwards to ask you how you got on.
• If you are on Twitter, tweet about the
experience using the hashtag #FabRCT

9. 9
1. Send an email to all the participants
asking how they found the experience
and what were the benefits for them
and the organisation
2. Email Jo in the Horizons team with
the number of people who were
involved in the RCT, so that we can
smash the world record and show
that this was ‘the world’s largest
Randomised Coffee Trial’.
3. Report back to your leadership team
about the event and celebrate what
you achieved in your local newsletter
– how many people took part, what
were the benefits and if you plan to
do it again! Tweet about the results
using the hashtag #FabRCT
4. RCTs get the best results when they
are ongoing, not just a one-off for
Fab Change Day. We suggest that you
run your RCT on at least two more
occasions. This means that everyone
will get a chance to have three
separate and different conversations.
Start thinking about your next RCT
– you could plan another RCT next
month.
After the event
Why should my team or organisation join the world’s
largest randomised coffee trial?
Here are eight evidence based reasons to join the world’s largest randomised coffee
trial, based on the hundreds of organisations that have run RCTs so far:
1. RCTs are a really good way of creating links within the organisation and
encouraging us to collaborate
2. People can create real connections that can help them be more innovative,
linked up and ultimately more productive
3. People discover amazing connections with people that they are matched to
– we call this the transformational power of serendipity!
4. RCTs give permission and opportunity to meet colleagues who are not
necessarily involved in our day to day work
5. They strengthen networks and lead to longer and improved engagement
6. People enjoy the experience and it contributes to feelings of motivation
and being inspired
7. They support wellbeing: providing an opportunity to step outside of our
work, take a break and pause while we learn more about our colleagues
8. RCTs offer the chance to make time to talk to the people we should be
talking to anyway and to meet people who we won’t be directly working
with but it’s nice to know who they are!
#FabRCT

10. Institutionalising serendipity via
productive coffee breaks at Nesta
http://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/
institutionalising-serendipity-productive-
coffee-breaks
How the International Red Cross and Red
Crescent movement used Randomised
Coffee Trials to build global unity
http://www.hrzone.com/engage/
employees/forging-global-unity-with-
randomised-coffee-trials-rct-at-the-red-
cross
Randomised Coffee Trials as explained by
David Gurteen
http://www.slideshare.net/NHSIQ/
randomised-coffee-trials-as-explained-by-
david-gurteen
Implementing Randomised Coffee Trials:
The Communication Plan
http://www.sparkcollaboration.com/
implementing-randomised-coffee-trials-
communication-plan/
Any more questions?
We’re promoting conversations, so talk
to us! You can email Jo in the Horizons
team or call her on 07788 161017
Further reading
I don’t know why we hadn’t done this before! It was so simple and
the benefits were immense. From these simple conversations we
have improved staff morale and improved patient care. These will
now be a regular feature in our organisation.
Esther Robson
10

11. We are a small team of people within the
English NHS who support improvement
and change. We tune into and engage
with the best change thinking and
practice in healthcare and other industries
around the world and seek to translate
this learning into practical approaches to
change.
The team has emerged through years of
supporting change in the NHS and wider
health and care system. Find out more
about us and how we can work together
to improve health and care via:
http://theedge.nhsiq.nhs.uk
This pack is brought to you by the Horizons team