News & Updates
Community Health Newham – Triple Aim Project Continues During Covid-19 Crisis
10 June 2020
By Susan Alfred, Improvement Advisor. In the midst of the challenging circumstances of COVID-19 it was good to hear that Community Health Newham’s Triple Aim project team had managed to keep going with the aid of technology. Where many projects had to take a pause so staff could concentrate fully on the crisis, this triple aim project team (whilst working on COVID-19 priorities themselves) managed not to miss a beat when they quickly reverted to bi-weekly virtual meetings. It has not been… Read More
QI Department ‘ Virtual Pocket QI – Webinar Test’ Cycle 3
8 June 2020
With colleagues and service users spending more time at home during the lockdown, the QI Department decided to offer a ‘Virtual Pocket QI’ webinar every two weeks. People were given the option of staying for the full day or splitting the course across two days, which is how it was previously run in person. The theory was that this would suit those with stamina as well as those who would like time to digest different parts of the course and… Read More
From Face to Face to Virtual – Medical Education’s journey
3 June 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to an evolution in the way we deliver training across ELFT. The Medical Education Team are one of many teams that have faced this challenge and have worked rapidly to adapt using a quality improvement approach. The Problem Before the COVID-19 pandemic medical staff would have protected time to attend training sessions in person on Wednesday afternoons. However, with rules on… Read More
Lockdown Beginnings
29 May 2020
By Daisy Maradzika, Improvement Advisor Starting a new job always brings about mixed emotions, with a few sleepless hours and possibly a loss of appetite. However, we have all been there and have emerged unscathed, so I knew all would be well. The lock-down had been announced a few weeks before I was due to… Read More
Experiences of starting a job at the NHS from the most southerly tip of Africa
28 May 2020
By Doranne McDonald, Improvement Advisor It is commonly agreed amongst mental health professionals that some of life’s biggest stressors include, moving to a different country, moving to a new house, and starting a new job. Contemplating even one of these major life transitions is enough to aggravate one’s stress level significantly. Having been in the process of doing all three of the above since… Read More
Community Health Services Start ‘Shaping Their Future’
27 May 2020
By Carlos Santos and Susan Alfred, Improvement Advisors Newham, Tower Hamlets and Bedfordshire Community Health Services (CHS) held their introductory ‘Shaping Our Future’ workshop, co-facilitated by members of the ‘quality improvement’, ‘performance’ and ‘people participation’ teams. The virtual workshop was held on Thursday 14th May via Webex, with high energy and eager participation from all… Read More
Using Microsoft Teams Effectively
19 May 2020
By Forid Alom, Head of Improvement Analytics Since Microsoft Teams was made available to the whole NHS through NHS Digital, we have seen a massive upsurge of teams adopting the platform for collaborative working. As we transition into this new era, we face new challenges. How do we use the platform effectively to manage communications within… Read More
ELFT ability assists Quality department to make virtual training accessible to all staff
11 May 2020
By Forid Alom, Head of Improvement Analytics Over the past few weeks, ELFT’s Quality department has been supporting the Digital team in providing webinar training and have already run a series of sessions. One of the main challenges for many participants is that it can be difficult to keep up or ask questions during the… Read More
Psychology of Change: How BWS Adapted During the Covid 19 Lockdown
29 April 2020
By Catherine Heaney, Improvement Advisor The psychology of change is a vital ingredient in Quality Improvement activities. Human behaviour makes a difference as to whether people are successful in achieving their improvement aims. The following summary gives an example of the Psychology of Change framework in practice. To quote the IHI framework: “The psychology of change is the science and art of human behaviour as it relates… Read More
On A ‘Zooming’ Q&A session for service users at Bedfordshire Mental Health Services
24 April 2020
By Sher Kayani, Improvement Advisor On Thursday 2nd April, Bedfordshire Mental Health staff met to discuss their plans for engaging with service users during the current Covid-19 crisis. Bedfordshire MH teams were aware of potential disconnection between staff and the service users at a time when the service users would arguably need services even more…. Read More
Quality Improvement during COVID 19: Understanding your System – The Clozapine Clinics Story
24 April 2020
By Francisco Frasquilho, Senior Improvement Advisor 2021 Update: The Clozapine Clinics are continuing to maintain regular updates with the team and service users. Their focus continues to be on maintaining good staff support and resourcing. They use a PANDO forum (secure form of team communications) across Luton and Bedfordshire Denzapine Services to continue to… Read More
Developing, rapid cycle testing and scaling an idea within a day for PPE ordering
24 April 2020
By Marco Aurelio, Improvement Advisor 2021 Update: The team went on to update their flowchart as they iterated on the design of their process for ordering and delivering Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). This soon developed into designing a warehouse process that now employs staff with supply chain skills and… Read More
Miles apart but closer than ever!
23 April 2020
By Sarah Breese, Improvement Advisor. The Corporate Secretariat team share how physical distance does not need to stand in the way of great team work and how they have used Quality Improvement tools to help. What was the challenge? The COVID-19 pandemic has meant the Corporate Secretariat team have had to adapt their working practises… Read More
Co-production and Co-creation in Bedfordshire
23 April 2020
By Carlos Santos, Improvement Advisor, Bedfordshire Directorate Bedfordshire Community Health Services (BCHS) are inviting their wider community to be deeply involved in their Quality Improvement work around COVID-19. As a result, the directorate started testing a great pool of change ideas. What matters to Staff It all started when BCHS decided to focus all… Read More
Adapting my home for virtual working
21 April 2020
Hi I am May Sunday, Senior Programme Officer for the ELFT QI Department. Despite the changes that COVID-19 has brought, it was important for me to continue to support the Quality Improvement Department and staff across the Trust in a productive way now more than ever. The pandemic came as a shock to us all… Read More
