NHS: Virtual Showcase

4Pi delivered a bilingual interactive 360° Virtual Showcase for Cardiff and Vale University Health Board (CAVUHB), translating a complex system-wide NHS strategy into a shared and explorable digital environment. Built around the health board's People and Culture Plan, the experience spans the history of the NHS in Wales, present day clinical realities across five departments, and a future vision centred on prevention, community care and partnership. Accessible on VR headsets, desktop, tablet and mobile devices, the platform reached 10,000 NHS staff and formed a central part of the health board's internal engagement strategy.

Translating strategy into experience

The core challenge of this digital placemaking project was how to translate a complex, system wide NHS strategy into a shared, meaningful experience that could engage diverse audiences, including clinicians, staff, stakeholders, partners and the public, whilst spanning past, present and future.

Working across five distinct departments within CAVUHB: Primary, Community and Intermediate Care (PCIC), Cardiology, Geriatric Medicine, Social Care Integration and Frailty, meant navigating different priorities, cultures, clinical realities and messaging needs. At the same time, the project required sensitive filming within live hospital environments and interviews with clinicians, all while maintaining trust and accuracy.

Sensitive content, complex narrative

The narrative challenge was equally significant: To honour the NHS’s origins in 1952, acknowledge today’s pressures and challenges, and clearly communicate a future state where the NHS cannot work alone. Instead, the NHS collaborates with the third sector and communities to build a healthier Wales. This included addressing public health prevention, an ageing population, shaping clinical services, reducing unnecessary hospital visits and re-imagining care closer to home.

Finally, the experience needed to be universally accessible, technically robust, bilingual, scalable and capable of reaching thousands of staff and stakeholders while empowering audiences to engage on their own terms.

We approached the project as an exercise in digital placemaking, creating a shared, explorable world that reflects identity, values and purpose, rather than a linear piece of communications.

Drawing on 15+ years of virtual production experience, we designed and delivered a bespoke interactive 360º Virtual Showcase, supported by a custom mix of specialist hardware and software. At the heart of the experience is a computer-generated 3D model of a town/city, subtly inspired by architectural landmarks from across Cardiff and the Vale. This virtual environment became the narrative vehicle for the CAVUHB strategy.

Rather than overwhelming audiences with information, we structured the experience as a journey through place and time. Each area of the town reveals a different part of the story, from the NHS’s foundation, through current clinical realities, to a future state focused on prevention, community care and partnership working. Animated environments and 360º video sequences were woven together with filmed clinician interviews, fun facts and leadership messages.

Non-linear exploration

Audiences navigate through the experience at their own pace. Participants choose where to go, what to explore and which themes to engage with. This non-linear approach allowed us to speak to multiple objectives simultaneously:

• Engaging and informing diverse audiences
• Highlighting challenges honestly
• Honouring NHS staff and clinical teams
• Creating a clear case for change
• Inspiring hope, involvement and collective ownership

To ensure reach and impact, the Virtual Showcase was designed to work seamlessly across mobile, tablet, desktop, multitouch displays and VR headsets.

By combining immersive storytelling, placemaking principles and accessible technology, we transformed a complex organisational strategy into a shared digital place, one that invites reflection, participation and dialogue and helps drive CAVUHB’s strategy forward.

Engagement strategy

Creative workshops with each of the five departments ensured clinical accuracy and gave staff direct input into the wider narrative. The team also developed a comprehensive engagement strategy including internal training sessions, technical support, social media promotion, QR-enabled posters and flyers, branded VR headsets, physical character cut-outs and public-facing outreach.

The Virtual Showcase successfully transformed a complex NHS strategy into a shared, accessible digital place, driving engagement, understanding and participation across CAVUHB and beyond.

Platform reach

10,000 NHS staff members accessed the online interactive platform. A shared immersive event hosted 250 staff for collective exploration and discussion within a single experience. Creative workshops with each of the five departments fed directly back into the wider strategy.

The platform achieved strong uptake across VR, desktop, tablet and mobile, removing barriers to access and ensuring inclusivity across the organisation.

Participation & ownership

The experience shifted audiences from passive recipients of information to active participants, allowing individuals to explore themes most relevant to them.

Encouraged reflection, dialogue and feedback, supporting the People and Culture Plan as a social movement, not just a document.

It also empowered internal teams through training and technical support to confidently use and embed the platform.