Community Health Newham – Triple Aim Project Continues During Covid-19 Crisis

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 easy but meetings have been maintained and there has been some progress.   

 The aim of the project is ”Improving the quality of life and what matters to adults in Newham who have a body mass index (BMI) over 40 and are Housebound” using a Triple Aim approach.  This approach is a framework used for population health and focuses on delivering improvements that will impact on (1) patient experience, (2) patient outcome and (3) value for money.  You find out more about the Triple Aim framework by here. 

So what has the team managed to achieve over the past couple of months?  

Some of the progress made is listed below: 

1. The team has been able to provide a full introduction and background to the work to date for new team members – two psychology trainees.  
2. With help from our psychology trainees the team have explored how to better understand the psychological needs of this population, and their carers,  and worked on the development of targeted explorative interviews.  
3. An additional service user, with valuable lived experience, has been welcomed to the project team, joining the husband and wife carer and service users who already attend meetings virtually when possible. 
4. Two PDSA cycles have been planned for the coming month.  These cycles will test two  psychological interviews: one tailored for a service user with a BMI over 40  and the other for a carer supporting the service user.   

Sustaining the project through covid-19 has been a challenge but through great effort this project has progressed and are now looking forward to testing effective change ideas in the months to come.