News & Updates
QI Essentials: Beyond Projects
25 November 2019
Improvement is now becoming a way of life and a way of being. How do we hold onto and strengthen our approach to QI projects?…Have a read of Amar’s latest QI Essentials Blog.. Since we began our quality improvement journey in 2013-14, QI projects have been the mechanism through which we have achieved breakthrough… Read More
IHI Annual visit 2019 – Highlights and Progress
20 November 2019
This October we were delighted to welcome our partners from the IHI to The Trust for their annual three day visit. This was the 6th annual IHI visit. This year we welcomed Derek Feeley, President and CEO, Trissa Torres, Chief Operations Officer and Pedro Delgado, Head of Europe and Latin America to The Trust … Read More
Annual IHI visit to ELFT
14 November 2019
From Monday 28th to Wednesday 30th October we are delighted to welcome our partners from IHI to the Trust for a three day visit. This is the sixth time the IHI team have joined us for an annual visit. This year we’re pleased to welcome Derek Feeley, Pedro Delgado and Trissa Torres and look forward… Read More
QI Essentials: Top down AND bottom up
17 October 2019
Deciding between a top-down approach to improvement and a bottom-up approach to improvement is a false – and meaningless – choice. We need to support both. It’s about top-down AND bottom-up, at the same time… Have a read of Amar’s latest QI Essentials Blog… Should our quality improvement activity be directed at strategic areas… Read More
People Participation
20 September 2019
Jamie Stafford, Improvement Advisor, discusses what we have done at ELFT to encourage and further service users and carers participation in QI projects. Within our organisation we’ve spent much of the last year thinking about service users and carer participation in QI projects. We have learnt that when this is ‘done right’ it can have… Read More
QI Essentials: Developing Improvement Capability
17 September 2019
Developing improvement capability has the potential to deliver a step-change in organisational performance, but only if done in the right way. Have a read of Amar’s latest QI Essentials Blog… The landscape of healthcare improvement in England is massively different to 2013 when we were planning the start of our improvement journey at… Read More
QI Essentials: Quality, Cost and Value
1 August 2019
For the first time in our improvement journey, this year we are directly targeting value as a primary goal in our portfolio of improvement efforts. We are starting to move from one approach to quality and another to cost, to an integrated approach to quality, cost and value. Have a read of Amar’s latest QI… Read More
QI Essentials: Thinking of holding a meeting for QI? Read this first…
13 June 2019
Sometimes a 15-minutes huddle is more efficient than a 1-hour meeting… Have a read of Amar’s latest QI Essentials blog for tips on how to run effective Quality Improvement meetings. For most of us, when we think about how to bring people together to work on something, our first thought is often to… Read More
QI Essentials: The daily practice of improvement
26 April 2019
What does it take to make quality improvement a part of our every day habits and behaviours? Have a read of Amar’s latest QI Essentials blog… In “Outliers – the story of success”, Malcolm Gladwell challenges the notion that success is based on innate skill, hard work or focused ambition. Or that we… Read More
QI Essentials: What does a Chief Quality Officer do?
18 March 2019
What is the role of a CQO? There are still very few chief quality officers in the UK, although it’s a common role in the US. In this blog, Dr Amar Shah reflects on the role and responsibilities of a Chief Quality Officer… I figured it was probably about time to tackle this… Read More
QI Essentials: Learning systems for improvement
22 February 2019
Achieving change in behaviour and culture in complex organisations requires intentional design. In this blog, Dr Amar Shah shares some learning on key components of the design of learning systems for improvement. The pursuit of continuous improvement helps us create a learning organisation, described by Peter Senge as “where people continually expand their… Read More
What it takes…
21 January 2019
What does it take within a team to run a quality improvement project through to completion? Is it about brilliant ideas or the energy of a charismatic leader? Perhaps it’s about everyone having skills in quality improvement, or finding time to do the work? With so many organisations now recognising the potential… Read More
Activating agency
17 December 2018
Over the last few weeks I have been reminded that, at its heart, quality improvement work is really all about connections, relationships and purpose. We may need the technical skills of quality improvement and the systematic method to navigate and learn our way through some really complex problems. But the true opportunity in quality improvement… Read More
Top tips for starting a quality improvement project
13 November 2018
Thinking of starting a quality improvement project? Identified something that needs improving? Here’s my three top tips on setting up your project for success… Start with the end in mind. Often, the spark for improvement comes from an idea, a realisation that things would be better if we tried this new way of doing things…. Read More
Improving Quality ≠ Quality Improvement
19 October 2018
In this new blog series, Dr Amar Shah – Consultant forensic psychiatrist & Chief Quality Officer at ELFT – will explore all things QI, sharing tips and tricks, demystifying QI and sharing stories to inspire everyone to improve the system in which they work. Enjoy! Over the last few years we have seen a proliferation in the… Read More
Annual IHI visit to ELFT
18 October 2018
On Tuesday 16th October we are delighted to welcome our partners from IHI to the Trust for a three day visit. This is the fifth time the IHI team have joined us for an annual visit. This year we’re pleased to welcome Derek Feeley, Pedro Delgado, Bob Lloyd and Trissa Torres and look forward to… Read More
Help us improve our QI Communications
27 July 2018
In the spirit of continuous improvement, the Quality Improvement Team would like to know how to better communicate with you. It would only take around 5 minutes to complete this very short survey about how we connect with you. We value your views and would love to hear about your ideas! All responses will remain… Read More
Looking back at ELFT’s participation in the International Forum in Amsterdam
6 June 2018
A delegation of ELFT staff took part in the 2018 edition of the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, in May. It is one of the world’s largest conferences for healthcare professionals committed to improving patient care and safety. The group was able to join inspirational talks and workshops, in addition conversations with… Read More
Christmas Crossword 2017!
18 December 2017
Following last year’s success, Dr Amar Shah has created a new Christmas Crossword puzzle for this year. Have a go and test your Quality Improvement knowledge. When you are done, please scan your copy and send it to us on qi@elft.nhs.uk and we will share the answers. Have fun! Click on the image to access… Read More
IHI reflect on their annual visit to ELFT
24 October 2017
In October 2017 our strategic partners, the IHI, returned to ELFT for their fourth annual visit. Derek Feeley, Pedro Delgado and Bob Lloyd met with service users and staff groups across the Trust to hear and see how QI is being embedded into the organisation.
