Pursuing equity for those we serve: Celebrating successes and joining the movement to bridge a Trust-wide equity gap

Dive into this 3-minute read to hear how teams have successfully bridged some common equity gaps!  Find out how you can get involved and close the gap in your service too.

By Sarah McAllister (Head of Improvement Programmes)

In response to the Trust’s strategy to improve quality of life for all we serve, in 2022 ELFT launched the Pursuing Equity QI programme. Since then, we’ve had two phases of the programme, and supported 38 teams to use QI to tackle the equity issues most important to them. Many of these teams have seen improvement, some winning awards for their work!

Carrying on from the success of Phase 1 and 2, we are now launching Phase 3 of the programme.  Many teams have already signed up, with the programme running until June 2025 and focusing on a Trust-wide equity gap.

Trust-wide data reveals a stark disparity: our service users who live in the most deprived neighbourhoods are 36% more likely to miss their appointments than those who live in the least deprived neighbourhoods, leading to poorer health outcomes and long waiting times. This isn’t just a statistic, it’s a story of lives waiting to be improved.

The Pursuing Equity Programme Phase 3 is an opportunity for your service to unite with service users and harness QI to address this Trust-wide equity gap. Supported by QI, Data & Analytics and People Participation, you’ll spend time as a team meeting around the work and collaborate with other teams to learn and share effective strategies to shape more equitable services for all.

Being part of the programme will offer you:

• A QI coach who will support your team to apply the QI method to this problem
• Join a community of improvers, brought together every 6-8 weeks to share the change ideas that are working best
• Support to tell the story of your work and celebrate your successes
• A dedicated data dashboard so you can easily access the data that’s needed to move your work forward

Ready to make an impact? Please complete the sign-up form below which takes less than 5 minutes. This information will help us to support your team to begin the work with momentum! After we receive it, your local Improvement Advisor will be in touch to help you get started.