News & Updates
Improving confidence in Managing Self-harm at the Coborn: A QI project supporting young people, their families and staff
20 July 2017
By Louisa Bravery, Consultant Psychologist at the Coborn Centre for Adolescent Mental Health Introduction There has been an increase in the number of young people presenting with self-harm difficulties, with a rise in those requiring hospital treatment (NHS Digital cited in The Guardian, 2016). There is also an increasing awareness of the use of social media… Read More

Reducing non attendance to the Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Service
12 July 2017
Community Health Newham’s Musculoskeletal Physiotherapy Service developed a quality improvement project with the aim to reduce their DNA (Did Not Attend) rates. The service uses a Patient Booking Service and experiences high levels of referrals. When the project started, DNAs were accounting for 180 hours a month equivalent to 1 whole time equivalent physiotherapist. The… Read More

Celebrating 2 years of Improving Access to Services Collaboration!
12 July 2017
The improving access to services learning system was formed in March 2015. The aim of the learning system has been to bring together quality improvement projects from across the trust working on: Reducing Wait Times – Average days from referral accepted to first face-to-face contact Reducing DNA Rates – DNAs (Did Not Attend) before first… Read More

Improving Access in Children’s Services
11 July 2017
The Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Service The Sickle Cell and Thalassaemia Service started their QI project in December 2015. The service dedicates time every Friday afternoon to focus on quality improvement and this time has involved teaching sessions on the methodology, presentations and project team meetings. All members of the service are part of the… Read More

Psychotherapy services improve access for service users…
11 July 2017
All three of the Trust’s Psychotherapy Services have been part of the Improving Access to Services Learning System. They have all been primarily working on improving the wait times and/or non-attendance rates for assessments/first face to face contacts. More recently the services have moved to focus on improving the wait to treatment. C&H Psychotherapy Service… Read More

City & Hackney CHAMHRAS reduce waiting times!
11 July 2017
City and Hackney Adult Mental Health Referral and Assessment Service (CHAMHRAS) are the single point of entry for all mental health referrals. Their QI project has been running for 2 years. The team initially prioritised reducing waiting times, as only 30% of patients were being seen within 28 days. The project aim was for 95% of… Read More

Lifestyle Improvement on Woodberry Ward…
7 July 2017
Staff and service users on Woodberry ward, in the forensics directorate at ELFT are working on a quality improvement project to promote a healthier lifestyle for service users. A healthier lifestyle combines physical activity, mental and social well-being. Click on the picture below to read what has been happening so far…

Improving interventions for parents of children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in CAMHS
30 June 2017
Laura Roughan, Psychologist, in our City and Hackney Child & Adolescent Mental Health Service, writes about her team’s QI project aimed at Improving interventions for parents of children and young people with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) in CAMHS Background In 2015, City and Hackney Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) devised a pathway model for… Read More

ELFT CAMHS Services Quality Conference
30 June 2017
On Wednesday 28th June 150 colleagues from across the Trust’s CAMHS services came together to dedicate time to further develop their understanding around capacity and demand issues. Identified as a priority area for the directorate, the aim of the day was to take a deep dive into understanding flow through the services, identify what works… Read More

The Specialist Addictions Services Quality Conference
30 June 2017
The Specialist Addictions Services Quality Conference on Wednesday 28th June started off with an encouraging message from the Chief Executive Officer, Dr Navina Evans. The day had a good mix of sharing, learning, networking and celebrating the culture of improving quality that is shared by the core services that make up this passionate directorate –… Read More


Training Student Nurses in QI
8 June 2017
At ELFT a large part of our work around QI focuses on developing improvement skills in our staff, service users & carers so that they can lead QI work. But what about building skills in groups of people who will soon be joining the organisation? A great example of this is our student nurses at… Read More

How easy is it to collect data during improvement work?
5 June 2017
Some of the most common questions that arise when a team is doing improvement work are around data and measurement. This varies from what data to collect, where to get it, how to analyse and present it and how to use it. Some projects can rely on centrally collected data through the various Electronic Patients… Read More

Breaking the Rules
2 June 2017
In March 2017, a campaign at ELFT encouraged all staff to “break the rules”. Endorsed by Dr Navina Evans (Chief Executive) and Dr Kevin Cleary (Chief Medical Officer), staff were encouraged to highlight the bureaucratic, unnecessary and petty rules that are getting in the way of our work. By highlighting and then eliminating these rules… Read More

Improving BME service user experience
26 May 2017
A new patient experience project is underway on Ruth Seifert Ward, City and Hackney On Thursday 25th May, the project team on Ruth Seifert Ward , developed the measurement plan and driver diagram for the team’s new project on improving service user experience. The team have already conducted interviews with service users and discussed the… Read More

Improving patient experience of the continence service
4 May 2017
Amee Smart, Administrator at the Enebiri clinic and QI project team member for”Improving the experience of the continence service” spoke to Bernadette about her experiences of QI and the QI project story How did you get involved in quality improvement? Our manager first brought QI to our attention when we were discussing issues within… Read More

The Grand Unveiling of Newham’s QI Wall
3 May 2017
On the 26th April 2017 our Trust Chair, Marie Gabriel joined service users, carers , staff and international visitors for the unveiling of Newham’s Quality Improvement wall. Over the last few months ELFT service users, carers and staff have been working together with Jonny Glover, a local artist, to create a QI visibility wall at Newham… Read More

ELFT Experience Day
3 May 2017
On 26 April 2017 ELFT hosted 150 international visitors on an Experience Day as part of the International Forum on Quality & Safety in Healthcare event in London. Visitors attended from a variety of countries, including; Angola, Australia, New Zealand, Scotland, Singapore, Denmark, Sweden, Canada, Finland and Norway During the morning session delegates heard more… Read More

My Quality Improvement Journey…
7 April 2017
Bernadette Tilley, QI Communications and Events management Lead, interviewed Holly Smith; ex service user and QI project team member for Gold Standard Environments, about her QI experiences and journey so far… I was on Gardner ward as a service user just over a year ago. When I was on the ward I was struck… Read More

Bringing Research and QI together
21 February 2017
Prof Frank Röhricht Dr Amar Shah We have a unique richness of research and improvement expertise now at ELFT, spread across all parts of the organisation. This puts us in a great position to be able… Read More
