About Us

The PSO was founded in 1995 as Peter Weaver Associates and became the Programme Support Office in 2002 to respond to the increased complexities and interrelated nature of projects that were emerging.  We are deeply involved in the development of the PRINCE2 and MSP methodologies and now deliver some of the most highly regarded courses in the UK and license our materials overseas.

We hold Programme Management, PRINCE2®, Management of Change and Project Management Fundamentals courses in Birmingham, Redditch, Solihull, Worcester, Hereford, Cheltenham Gloucester, Swindon, Reading, Slough, London, Manchester (Wigan) Nottingham, Coventry and Salisbury/Southampton for the South England. Internationally, we also hold courses in Brisbane, Australia; New Zealand; Faro/Portimao or Lisbon in Portugal and Warsaw Poland.

The PSO's Specialist  NHS Experience

In 1990, already an experienced public sector programme manager, our Founding Director, Peter Weaver joined the NHS Oxford Region Headquarters. He was involved in transition programmes such as the regionally sponsored Senior Management Innovation Programme and the NHS-wide Resource Management Initiative Programme rolling out projects in NHS units and trusts to encourage and enable the involvement of clinicians in management, supported by information management and technology (IM&T). He was seconded to the NHS Executive Information Management Group to manage the rolling out of support tools, training and services in support of the implementation of PRINCE in the NHS for IM&T projects from 1993. In 1995 when Oxford and Anglia regions combined Peter was "externalised" from the NHS and formed Peter Weaver Associates, later to be incorporated as The Programme Support Office, known as The PSO of which he was the Lead Trainer.

Setting up the CHI Programme Approach

As an external consultant, The PSO was called in by Peter Homa CBE to support the creation of the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI). They set up and initially operated the programme approach on which the work of CHI was based; this included devising the templates for the regular reviews, inspections and special inquiries. The review "template" covered the work of a 24-week project which was applied across the 400 plus CHI reviews. After some seven months Peter Weaver handed over the management of the programme to the CHI Director of Operations once the set-up work had been completed and the director appointed.

Since 1995 The PSO has supported:

• The NHS Executive Information Management Group
• The NHS Information Authority
• The National Patients Access Team
• The NHS Modernisation Agency
• The National Programme for IT
• The Integrated Service Improvement Programme
• Connecting for Health
• National Patients Safety Agency

and is currently supporting a number of NHS organisations with tailored programmes of training and support.

In July and August 2007 The PSO was commissioned jointly by the NHS Connecting for Health Capacity Building Team and the APM Group (the MSP Exam Authority) to pilot the forthcoming MSP syllabus.