90 Seconds with Neil Lad

 29th September 2016

We spoke to Neil Lad, Clinical Practice Lead for Onyx Ward and QI Coach in Luton,  about his role and his thoughts on quality improvement…

Neil Lad (Neil.Lad@elft.nhs.uk) QI Coach for Luton

Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed today. Firstly, could you give us a brief summary of your role and what a typical day at work is for you?

As a clinical practice lead my role is to provide clinical leadership in front line delivery of care alongside my colleagues. Onyx ward is a busy and unpredictable 20 bedded female ward in Luton so there is no typical day! No two minutes are ever the same, definitely keeps you on your toes! 

What do you enjoy most about your role?

Working with service users. Every individual has their own story and are an inspiration in their own right. It’s the one thing that will continue to wake me up in the morning to come in to work.

What do you do in your day-to-day work to support us to continually improve?

In my day to day work I encourage the team to continually take feedback from service users and carers and how we can look to improve on what we already do. I’m a perfectionist so I’m always looking for ways to improve our delivery of care and encourage others to do so.   

What would you say to someone who feels that QI is a box ticking exercise and is unsure about the benefits of QI to us as a whole Trust and themselves individually?

The stories of success for service users and staff speak for themselves! Who wouldn’t want to work in an environment where there was less violence or where service users are continually receiving the right care at the right time in the right place?! If QI was a tick box exercise it wouldn’t be receiving the acclaim that it is and actively improving service user and staff experience.

Do you have a story of something inspiring that has occurred through QI?

The most inspiring thing that I see are service users and staff being able to channel their passion into improving services. QI truly embraces a bottom up approach which is vital in ensuring inclusivity and collaborative working.

What do you see as the biggest challenge to embed quality improvement, and what can we do to tackle this?

The biggest challenge is making it business as usual. However, the array of options for training and involvement with QI now can reach a wider audience. For example, not everyone can commit to the 6 month ISIA programme therefore pocket QI may be beneficial. Plus, to be involved with QI you don’t need to have completed the training, there is such an extensive support structure in place that there really is no excuse!

Where do you see us as a Trust in 3 years’ time?

I see the trust building upon its growing reputation and becoming a centre of excellence!

Finally, could you sum up what quality improvement means to you and why you feel it is so important to us as a Trust to embrace.

To me QI is a way of working that allows anyone, irrespective of job role or experience to help improve the lives of service users and staff. If you’ve got an idea or a theory about how something can be improved QI encourages you to try this out. It’s inevitable that not every idea will work; however, it allows us to learn and grow as individuals, teams and as an organisation.