This month we celebrated Quality Improvement (QI) Week 2024, which took place 9 – 13 September.
The theme for this year was ‘QI is for everyone’. This emphasises inclusivity and highlights the connection to the NHS IMPACT (Improving Patient Care Together) framework, ensuring that everyone plays a role in driving meaningful improvements.
QI, along with continuous learning, is at the heart of our ambition in the North East and North Cumbria to be the best at getting better. To be able to achieve this, we need to develop improvement know-how, and ensure that everyone feels empowered to make positive changes in their area of work.
Therefore as part of QI Week, we shared a number of learning opportunities and useful resources to support you on your QI journey, and to help us collectively achieve our goals. Take a look below for a summary of what’s available…
We know that when we create the right conditions for continuous improvement and high performance, systems and organisations can respond to today’s challenges. This results in better care for patients, and better outcomes for communities.
NHS IMPACT has five components:
Guidance and resources are available for embedding each of the five components including courses, workshops, events, free tools, guides, case studies, journal articles and research. Take a look at our summary for some resources and opportunities we would like to highlight. Please visit the NHS IMPACT website for the full suite of learning.
We know that through the sharing of learning, ideas, and good practice, and by trying new things together, we can find solutions to the challenges we face, and support each other to make a difference to the health of people living in our region. Boost provides a hub for innovation, networking, and supporting improvement efforts across our region.
While Boost is hosted by the North East and North Cumbria Integrated Care Board, our community is open to anyone with an interest in driving forward change in health and care.
It’s an opportunity for people to come together, share good ideas, promote new solutions, as well as learn when things don’t go well.
There are many methods and tools that can be used in improvement projects. Our Improvement System toolkit brings together a number of evidence based methods and tools that are being successfully used across our region.
These are arranged into stages of the improvement process, helping you on your journey. Take a look here…
In the spirit of QI, we’re always looking build on and further enhance our toolkit. If you’d like to get involved and support us with this, please get in touch via email: [email protected]
If we want to make meaningful improvements, we need to involve the people who use health and care services. Local people often have ideas and solutions that would work better for their communities.
We offer a series of 5 online workshops, ‘Working with Communities’, to help you get started on your co-production journey.
If you would like to know more about quality improvement, be sure to register for our next Learning for Improvement session on 21 November, 9:30am – 11:30am, Online: Microsoft Teams.
This workshop supports our ambition to be the best at getting better by emphasising the importance of a shared learning culture and approach to quality improvement.
It will build on core improvement methodology by introducing a human systems perspective, and highlighting the importance of making time for continuous learning.
Our short, informal LUNCH & LEARNs in collaboration with North Cumbria Knowledge and Library Service are an opportunity to take a break, eat, and listen to our invited speaker share their experience of improvement work. These sessions help to spread QI learning.
Take a look at upcoming dates here…
Check out the YouTube playlist here…
We recently heard a fantastic example of QI work at one of these sessions. In May we were joined by Professor Ahmet Fuat, who described the project which has been working to improve heart failure prevalence and medical therapy. Watch the recording here…
The Q community is a network of people working together to improve health and care quality.
It’s free to join, and by doing so you can learn more about improvement, get support with your QI challenges and help other people solve theirs. Join Q here…
Also be sure to check out Q’s upcoming events, visits and workshops here…
An important part of QI is highlighting and spreading the fantastic innovations and improvements that are happening already.
So please share! Get in touch so we can help capture your story and share the learning. What better way to celebrate your work as a team, service, or organisation?!
Get in touch via email: [email protected]
We were delighted to hear about a young hospital administration officer, who has found herself making meaningful hospital improvements after discovering a passion for QI.
Amy Todd-Davis began at the University Hospital of Hartlepool aged 19 as a clerical officer – answering phones and booking appointments for patients in the specialist services admin hub. When she took part in a leadership programme heading up an improvement project, she found a new passion for QI.
Almost three years on, she has a newfound confidence in her new role as clinical support officer and as quality improvement lead in her department.
We hope that whatever your role, QI Week 2024 has inspired you to learn, improve, and share in your area of work. Happy improving!
