Miles apart but closer than ever!

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 in order to support not only changing demands for the teams they support but also how they function and work together. Their aim was to maintain excellence of service whilst safeguarding staff and the challenge was to adapt and test out new ways of working to achieve this.

The team worked together to make a list of all of the potential solutions they could test out. As they worked through these they realised that they broadly fitted in to 4 key themes and they decided to use a Quality Improvement tool called a Driver Diagram to help them visualise this. A Driver Diagram is a very helpful tool to help build a hypothesis that can be tested and summarises what team members feel must change to result in an improvement and ultimately help them work toward achieving their aim. You can read more on Driver Diagrams here>>> 

This is the Driver Diagram the Corporate Secretariat team came up with:

What changes did they make?

These are some of the change ideas that the team have been focusing on:

• Daily Team catch-ups daily: frequency and digital platform to use.
• Sharing work through a rota: supporting flexibility.
• Instant messaging: allowing a quick response to issues.
• Sharing knowledge: sharing the things they have learnt with their wider team.
• Team social connection: add fun to each team meeting.

These are some of the many change ideas the team have been testing and building on as they adapt to new ways of working.

So what have the results been?

Aside from developing their technical knowledge and successfully maintaining their service, there have been huge benefits to how the team feel and work together.

What will the team be focusing on next?

• Continuing to build on ideas for social connection.
• Measuring the impact of the changes they are making.
• Building on their knowledge of digital platforms and ironing out any challenges.
• Continuing to support the wider team by sharing knowledge.

Watch this space to hear about how the team get on!

This is just one example of how teams across the Trust have been pulling together and responding rapidly to the challenges we are currently facing. It also shows how picking a few Quality Improvement tools can be really helpful when you are developing new ways of working, testing out ideas and learning from them. This is a great example of Daily Improvement!

The Corporate Secretariat team are: Cathy Lilley, Nicola Mccoy, Stephanie Quitaleg, Clare Freestone, Aminata Dibassey, Shahjahan Sultan, Jones Korankye, Ruth Miller-Hardy, Ade Odumade, Maria Miller, Norbert Lieckfeldt, Meena Patel, Zekarias Haileselassie, Marion Savariaud, Amina Begum, Gillian Roffey.