Introduction to Quality Improvement
A systematic quality improvement approach benefits hospices and all palliative care organisations. These presentations show the benefit of embedding QI into any project.
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What's on this page
Find out how to use the Model for Improvement, why having a SMART aim helps measure outcomes, and how stakeholder engagement is essential to the development, success, and sustainability of any change idea.
Explore how using 30-60-90 and Driver Diagrams can help with project management.
Empowering a strong and dynamic hospice sector is an essential goal in our strategy to bring quality hospice care to everyone who needs it.
Quality assurance or Quality improvement?
What are the differences between quality assurance and quality improvement?
Quality assurance focuses on ensuring the care of an individual meets the necessary standards.
Quality improvement looks at developing processes and systems and is about improving operational delivery as a whole.
Although the two are different processes, quality assurance processes can help you understand the quality improvements required.
Benefits of a quality improvement approach
A quality improvement approach can offer hospices, palliative and end of life care providers a number of benefits including:
- A clear definition of quality that reflects your philosophy of care, your regulatory framework and other similar drivers.
- A practical, systematic approach to making change happen in practice.
- A way to ensure a strong strategy that embeds quality assurance and quality improvement approaches across your entire organisation on an ongoing basis, with input from the whole workforce.
- Increasingly skilled teams who have confidence in the quality of the data they collect and benchmark, particularly in relation to patient safety. They will also gain an understanding of the practical tools and techniques needed to support change.
- Greater knowledge on the part of quality managers regarding the science of quality improvement. They will also understand how this is most effectively implemented in a palliative care context.
- A way to understand the needs of your local population and your organisation’s capacity to meet those needs. Armed with this knowledge, you will be better able to design your services accordingly.
- Reinforcement of the value of research, ensuring that your plans for service improvement are evidence-based.
An introduction to Quality Improvement
This presentation covers:
- What is QI and why is it important?
- What is the Model for Improvement?
- Finding your shared purpose.
- Setting SMART aims.
- Identifying stakeholders and service users.
Presented by Anita Hayes, Head of Learning and Workforce, Cat Sullivan and Dawn Hart Senior Clinical and Quality Improvement Lead at Hospice UK, on 11 November 2021.
An introduction to Driver Diagrams
Driver diagrams are another useful QI tool, helping you to map out your project and identify your change ideas. It is a living document that can be adapted and refined as you move through the model for improvement.
The presentation includes:
- What a driver diagram is.
- How it can help map your project?
- When to introduce it.
Presentation delivered by Cat Sullivan, Clinical and Quality Improvement Lead at Hospice UK on 8 December 2020 as part of the Hospice led support service for people bereaved by Covid-19 programme
The 30-60-90 tool is a resource that can be used when planning and mapping your project.
Introduction to sustainability tool
Presented by Cat Sullivan, Clinical and Quality Improvement Lead at Hospice UK on 21 April 2021 as part of the Hospice led support service for people bereaved by Covid-19 programme.
Useful resources
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A comprehensive collection of proven quality, service improvement and redesign tools, theories and techniques that can be applied to a wide variety of situations can be found on the Quality, service improvement and redesign (QSIR) tools website.
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An evidence-based framework centred around Care Quality Commission key themes to enable providers to continuously improve the experience of patients.
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An illustration of the value of a driver diagram and how to formulate one.
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Briefing: Partnerships for improvement: Ingredients for success
Learning from research into organisational partnerships commissioned by the Health Foundation.
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A practical guide to help you effectively communicate and spread your improvement work.
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Thought paper about learning for improvement in health care by Bill Lucas with Hadjer Nacer.
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A guide to enabling the spread of person- and community-centred approaches for health and wellbeing.
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Evidence review by Naomi Fulop and Glenn Robert.
Useful links
The content and views expressed by the following organisations do not represent the views of Hospice UK.