Spotlight QI: Sharing Knowledge and Experience

Trainees Improving Patient Safety through Quality Improvement (TIPS QI)

TIPS QI was developed in response to the addition of quality improvement to the curriculum for Foundation Doctors. Starting with one training session at Central Manchester University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in 2013 (now Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust), sessions are now delivered in over 20 NHS organisations across England.

Their core belief is that the skills required to be future clinical leaders and undertake improvement work are not innate; formal teaching and support is required. The TIPS QI programme aims to improve QI efforts by reducing regional variation in the content of QI training, removing barriers to undertaking projects and ultimately empowering clinicians to make improvements to patient care in their clinical areas of work.

Visit the TIPS QI website for details of their interactive training workshops and a step-by-step QI guide that walks you through how to go about improving an aspect of care in any clinical area of work.

Hexitime

Hexitime is a skill exchange and time bank for improving the quality of health and care services across the UK seed-funded by the Health Foundation’s ‘Q Exchange’ programme. The concept of healthcare time banking was first proposed at the 2017 annual Q Community event in Liverpool and followed-up with learning from time bank examples in public services that united disenfranchised communities.

Small scale pilots across the Q Community have left members inspired, better resourced and equipped with new ideas. These skill exchanges also contributed to successful bids of funding for further programmes. All exchanges are for improvement work and they work across a number of organisational, regional or national levels. To find out more, visit the Hexitime website and watch the TEDx Talk presented by Dr Hesham Abdalla (General Paediatrician and Project Lead for Hexitime) below:

Learning from Excellence (LfE)

Established in 2014, LfE have been capturing and studying peer-reported excellence in healthcare through a website of open-access resources and ideas that promote and share experiences across the healthcare community.

Safety in healthcare has traditionally focused on avoiding harm by learning from error. However, excellence in healthcare is highly prevalent and there is often no formal system of capturing it. A preoccupation with avoiding error and harm in healthcare can result in a rise of rules and rigidity, which in turn cultivates a culture of fear and stifled innovation. LfE believe that studying excellence in healthcare can create new opportunities for learning and improve resilience and staff morale.

Visit their website to join the community and access a library of resources here.

NHS Horizons

NHS Horizons has emerged through years of supporting change in the NHS and the wider health and care system. The team aim to positively impact people’s lives by building a generation of transformational leaders who together can tackle the biggest challenges in health, care and beyond.

Their website shares the latest change thinking and practice in healthcare and other industries around the world – translating learning into innovative and practical approaches to change. Visit the Sketchnotes section for useful graphics on leadership, high-performing teams and change management, and their #ImprovementMethodOlympics section for quick bitesize introductions to popular improvement tools and methodology.