How attending ILP has inspired me to use data in my role as a People Participation Lead (PPL)

 6th March 2025

Rachel Osbourne (People Participation Lead for Newham Adult Mental Health) joins Cassie Philpin (Senior Improvement Advisor) for a Q&A about Rachel’s experience of being part of the Improvement Leaders Programme (ILP). Rachel talks about some of the interesting things she has learnt on the programme and how it has inspired her to use Quality Improvement tools and data in her day-to-day role. 

Rachel Osbourne, PPL for Newham Adult Mental Health  

 Can you tell us a bit about the role of a People Participation Lead? 

Absolutely! First, I’ll give you an overview of what People Participation (PP) actually is. PP is all about ensuring service users and carers have a voice in how we plan and deliver our services. It’s not a box-ticking exercise, but rather a way to make sure we’re not just designing services based on professional assumptions but shaping them with the people who use them.  

By embedding PP into everyday practice, we improve quality, enhance communication and transparency, identify gaps in service, and create initiatives that support both staff and service users. Done well, this approach can enhance partnerships, celebrate best practice, and lead to meaningful improvements across the Trust. Beyond service improvement, PP can positively impact a service users recovery journey by promoting empowerment, skill development, peer support, and a sense of purpose. 

Most ELFT services have a People Participation Lead (PPL) or People Participation Worker. Broadly, my role involves developing an engagement strategy in line with Trust-wide PP priorities and my Directorate’s annual plan. I help staff and service users engage with each other in a meaningful way, facilitate participation methods, and ensure service users are involved in decision-making at every level – Newham wide, Trust wide, and at Directorate level. Ultimately, PP is all about co-producing services with the communities we serve, and it’s incredibly rewarding! 

What motivated you to join the Improvement Leaders Programme? 

At its core, People Participation is about improvement. Whether through QI projects, or service changes based on staff initiatives and service user feedback, my role is about driving positive transformation in a collaborative way.  

In my role, I support teams running QI and service improvement projects, I lead on my own PP projects, and I support service user led improvement projects. Thus, I wanted to deepen my understanding of QI methodology to refine my approach to projects and enhance outcomes. 

After completing a project management course in 2024, I became curious about how we formally structure and run projects at ELFT. As I mentioned, my work is heavily project based, yet I had no formal project training and was making it up as I went along (luckily to my advantage). I was already working on quite a large improvement project that wasn’t formally registered as a QI project – I knew I had a problem to solve and some ideas for change, but I lacked a structured approach, and the project seemed overwhelming. I realised I would benefit from the structure and learning provided by the ILP. Fast-forward, I can say it has definitely given me the tools to lead and support on projects in a more effective, methodological way. 

What has been the most interesting thing you’ve learned on the programme so far? 

Realising that not everyone embraces change in the same way has been a real eye-opener! I’m a driver by nature and quite progressive in my thinking and would grow frustrated when others might not want to implement a change that would be helpful. However, I’ve learned to focus on those who are open to supporting change, instead of trying to convince resistant people right away. Once improvements start showing results, others usually come on board, and this has certainly helped with my productivity levels. 

I’ve also gained insight into different working styles, something I hadn’t considered before. I work best independently, but the ILP has shown me the strengths that diverse perspectives bring to a project. Another interesting takeaway? Testing change doesn’t have to be a long, drawn-out process – it can be quick and iterative! Plus, I’ve discovered how helpful AI can be in developing a project plan. 

People can sometimes feel intimidated by data, but since joining the ILP, you’re keen to use it more. How do you plan to do that? 

I used to think “data” meant numbers, and I’m not a numbers person, so I always avoided working with data. Since joining the ILP, it has helped me see that data is just a way of understanding what’s happening in my work. Now, I plan to use data more strategically for monthly monitoring, which will inform my operational output. I have started collecting data on: 

• New sign-ups/referrals to PP – to track engagement growth 
• Service user representation across teams – to monitor the number of service users/carers we have with lived experience of each Newham Adult Mental Health service, ensuring diverse perspectives are heard 
• Types of engagement activities – using the NHS ‘Ladder of Engagement’ to assess whether our efforts are meaningful or tokenistic 

By looking at this data monthly, it helps me spot trends, track progress, and identify gaps and when things might need to change. 

The hardest part has been figuring out how to make run charts on Excel. But fortunately, the LifeQI platform has lots of QI tools and resources to support improvement work – including building charts for you!   

 Are there any QI tools you’ve started using in your role as a PPL? 

Yes! I now use driver diagrams for planning and have even structured my Newham 25/26 PP strategy this way. It’s been a great way to map priorities, identify challenges, and generate change ideas. I also frequently use the ‘5 Whys’ technique to get to the root of problems before jumping to solutions. Using this technique has been surprising at times, as I often think I know what the root cause of a problem is, but it turns out to be something completely different when I’ve applied the ‘5 Whys’. It’s so useful that I even apply it in my personal life! 

 What opportunities has the Improvement Leaders Programme opened up for you? 

One exciting opportunity is delivering the People Participation segment of the QI training for psychology trainees, something I wouldn’t have had the confidence to do before. The ILP has really helped me step into my leadership potential, and I now feel much more comfortable guiding others. I’m also considering joining the Improvement Coaching Programme to develop my QI coaching skills. I want to support others with QI beyond just having PP input. The ILP has cemented how much I truly enjoy improvement work, and I’m excited to keep growing in this space!