Posted on: 30 December 2024
The Quality Improvement Annual Conference 2024 took place in October at RCPsych, London. This year's conference delivered a rich programme focused on enhancing patient care and operational efficiency within the NHS, with many CNWL staff presenting and in attendance.
Key themes at the conference
- Patient Flow Improvement
- Speakers: Dr. Gareth Jarvis & Peter Toohey
- Topic: Insights from leading an ‘Improving Flow’ Spreadathon Collaborative at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
- Sustainability in Healthcare
- Speaker: Elysium Healthcare
- Topic: Insights from their sustainability project.
- Racial Equity in Health
- Speaker: Nandi Simpson, NHS Race & Health Observatory
- Topic: A plenary session on racial equity in health.
- Youth Mental Health
- Speaker: Berkshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust
- Topic: Improving services for children and young people.
- Psychologically Informed Environments
- Speaker: Cygnet Healthcare
- Topic: Introduction of the Diamond framework.
- Co-production and Racial Inequities
- Speaker: Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust
- Topic: Addressing critical issues in co-production and racial inequities.
Keynote speakers
- Dr. Ashu Handa, Terry Harper (EbE), and Dr. Brandon Wong
- Session: "Project Whiteboard" - Improving patient flow at Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust.
- Nandi Simpson
- Session: Focusing on racial equity in health.
The conference also featured interactive workshops, including a unique session on using QI methodology to prepare pizza, and provided opportunities for networking and poster viewing. The day was filled with learning, sharing, and collaboration aimed at driving quality improvement across healthcare services.
Spotlight on Amazon Ward's Improvement Project
We were thrilled to hear from Ashu, Terry, and Brandon about the remarkable improvement work on Amazon ward at St Charles Hospital. They shared their valuable learning and successes in enhancing the flow of time-sensitive communication with both internal and external stakeholders. A key highlight of their project was the involvement of their Expert by Experience (EbE), Terry, who ensured that the service user's voice remained central and meaningful throughout the project's lifespan.
Their efforts have significantly improved communication processes, demonstrating the importance of integrating service user perspectives in quality improvement initiatives. Terry's feedback as an EbE provided crucial insights that helped shape the project's direction and outcomes. Read more about this project here.
Insights from the ‘Improving Flow’ Spreadathon Collaborative
Dr. Gareth Jarvis and Peter Toohey recently shared their insights and successes from leading the Improving Flow Spreadathon Collaborative programme with nine in-patient mental health teams across CNWL. They emphasised the importance of supporting teams in understanding their individual roles within the system by mapping the patient journey. This approach helps teams see how their active participation in improvement work can positively impact patient flow throughout the organisation, in collaboration with our community mental health (CMHT) partners.
They also discussed the use of Emotion Mapping, a method that captures the patient perspective of a care pathway to support care and improve patient experience. This tool can also be used with teams to understand staff feelings as they work within a process or how a 'customer' experiences any given process. The key aspect of Emotion Mapping is that the customer tells the story of their own experiences, in their own voice, with both positive and negative emotions and experiences mapped along the journey.
This presentation was a great opportunity to celebrate CNWL teams' successes and learning with a national audience, generating significant interest and discussion. The team's aggregate data for improvement reflected the positive impact of their efforts. Learn more about the CNWL Improving Flow Spreadathon collaborative here.
This conference was also a great opportunity for the CNWL QI team to network, share, and learn from others, with reflections on the highlights from the day from one of our Improvement Coaches, Sam Heritage.
