Trust Quality Improvement Programme Officially Launched

The Trust’s Quality Improvement (QI) programme was officially launched on Friday 28^th February at an event attended by over 200 delegates at York Hall in Bethnal Green.

QI is about improving our patient’s experience of care by putting them, their carers and families at the heart of everything we do.  It is about nurturing a culture of continuous improvement and ensuring we constantly listen and learn.  The Trust has set itself a mission to provide the highest quality mental health and community care in England.  Driving this mission will be a number of ‘stretch aims’ that will focus on patient satisfaction, safety and clinical effectiveness.

Central to the entire QI programme are our staff.  Front line staff are the clinical experts and best placed to be able to identify, test and drive what changes need to be made to improve quality. That is why much of the QI programme will be focused on giving these staff the skills, knowledge and freedom to bring about improvement.  It is about working differently, not harder and that was why at the launch event we were pleased to announce the following:

1. The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) will be acting as our partners. The IHI have a long and successful track record in supporting improvement projects both nationally and internationally. They will help us train staff in improvement methodology at scale and at pace. We expect to have a little over 200 staff trained within the first year of the programme alone.
2. Staff will have access to the British Medical Journal (BMJ) Quality Platform to document their QI projects. This will allow project team members to contribute collaboratively whilst also providing support and structure. At the end of the QI project, teams will also have the opportunity to submit their work for publication.
3. A central QI team has been established for the Trust. The team will provide support and advice to staff wishing to undertake QI projects. Staff interested in starting QI projects should visit the Your QI project section of the microsite for information on how to set up a project and access support.

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  Vice Chair of the Trust Mary Elford’s welcome address

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  Trust Medical Director and QI Programme Director Dr Kevin Cleary

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  Interactive voting pad

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  Dr Caroline Dowsett talking about her work reducing pressure ulcers

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  Maureen Bisognano and Derek Feeley from the Institute for Health Care Improvement

Comments from delegates – please click on picture to expand