Quality Improvement
Quality Improvement
Quality Improvement (QI) is a systematic and coordinated approach to solving problems in health and social care. There are a number of methods and tools which can help to understand systems and the areas where improvements are needed and enable testing and measurement of any improvement ideas. The image below shows the QI journey through an improvement project. This journey is not linear and is an iterative process.
At each stage of the improvement journey you should involve key staff from across services and stakeholders, including people with lived experience of mental health and substance use conditions.
Below you will find information about the tools which can be utilised at each stage of the improvement process.
Further QI based tools and information on the Improvement Journey are available on the NHS Education for Scotland Quality Improvement Zone.
Creating conditions
Early collaboration with staff and stakeholders is key to creating the conditions for implementing change within your system.
A Project Charter should include a concise summary of the improvement aim, the scope of the project, ideas for change, how the improvement will be measured, who will be involved and any risks associated. It should also address the rationale or business case for the work and therefore is an important tool in creating the conditions.
Resources:
Understanding systems
If teams want different outcomes they need to understand how their system is currently working. They can use this knowledge to help them identify the right improvements to make changes where they are needed. There are a number of tools and methods which can be used to help understand your system, and therefore any problems which need to be addressed.
Resources:
Developing aims
Once you have identified the improvements that need to be made you will want to develop your aims for the improvement work, and the measures you plan to use to understand if the aim has been met.
Resources:
Example driver diagram MHSU: IoR Inverclyde Discharge Planning
Testing changes
Testing the changes you want to make requires evaluation and reflection to determine if the change has made any impact so you can amend any aspects before rolling out. You will study the data before and after implementing changes to determine the success.
Implement
Implementation planning templates can support your team to consider the impact of change ideas, enablers and barriers to change, roles and responsibilities, and immediate next steps.
Implementation planning guidance
Spread
Once your change idea has been successfully tested it may be time to spread to new areas, teams or other parts of your system.