Improving in healthcare quality through change

Working as a system can also be key to spreading improvements in quality. There are a range of opportunities for NHS organisations to improve quality of care and value for money. Examples can be found across the NHS where teams and organisations are already acting on these opportunities and demonstrating positive results for their patients, as the examples given in this briefing show.

But the systematic use of quality improvement approaches within the NHS is still patchy, and many improvement efforts fail to deliver the results expected. NHS leaders — and boards in particular — have a vital role to play in creating a supportive environment for quality improvement within their organisation — for example by providing a clear vision and objectives for improving quality and putting in place the capabilities and support needed for staff to improve services.

Leaders must also work between organisations to develop new care models and co-ordinate improvements. The 10 key lessons outlined provide a starting point for NHS leaders seeking to more firmly embed quality improvement within their local plans for improving services.

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London: Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management. Journal of Organizational Effectiveness , vol 1, no 3, pp — Are clinicians engaged in quality improvement? Working as part of the system that provides for my young child with severe and complex health needs is something I would like to be part of. This document identifies this role clearly as essential in improving provision at the front line. In fact the merry-go-round of services with each one in turn dealing out errors, frustrations and complications from disjointed or disconnected processes, that need remedies in the form of quick fixes often conducted by the prinicpal carer of the comlex health child.

There needs to be a more modern approach to partnership working across the system which involves remodelling of the work being done and redone at the frontline which I would like to be part of modernising. This will help bring quality patient care further forward into the 21st century. Key messages The NHS is facing significant financial and operational pressures, with services struggling to maintain standards of care. Now, more than ever, local and national NHS leaders need to focus on improving quality and delivering better-value care.

All NHS organisations should be focused on continually improving quality of care for people using their services. This includes improving the safety, effectiveness and experience of care. Quality improvement — the use of methods and tools to continuously improve quality of care and outcomes for patients — should be at the heart of local plans for redesigning NHS services.

NHS leaders have a vital role to play in making this happen — leadership and management practices have a significant impact on quality. Studies have shown that board commitment to quality improvement is linked to higher-quality care, underlining the leadership role of boards in this area. Improving quality and reducing costs are sometimes seen as conflicting aims when they are in fact often two sides of the same coin.

There are many opportunities in the NHS to deliver better outcomes at lower cost improving value , for example by reducing unwarranted variations in care and addressing overuse, misuse and underuse of treatment. There are many examples across the NHS showing that even relatively small-scale quality improvement initiatives can lead to significant benefits for patients and staff, while also delivering better value.

However, this is not currently the case. To deliver the changes that are needed to sustain and improve care, the NHS needs to move from pockets of innovation and isolated examples of good practice to system-wide improvement.

It set out a vision for how NHS services need to change to meet the needs of the population, and argued that the NHS needs to make improvements in three main areas: improving quality of care improving the broader health and wellbeing of the population improving financial efficiency.

Plans for how change will happen The challenge now lies in delivering the plans and making tangible improvements in NHS care as a result.

Purpose of the briefing This briefing makes the case for quality improvement to be at the heart of local plans for redesigning NHS services. What do we mean by quality improvement? What can quality improvement achieve? Examples from the NHS. Example 1: Identifying and managing patients at risk of chronic disease exacerbation Early identification of patients at risk of developing end-stage kidney disease: Heart of England NHS Foundation Trust. Identifying and managing patients at risk of chronic disease exacerbation Acute-led development of an ambulatory care service Medicines optimisation and polypharmacy Improving safety and quality through multi-professional training Whole-pathway improvement involving collaboration between the primary, acute and community sectors.

What should NHS leaders do? Lessons from the literature. Make quality improvement a leadership priority for boards Senior leaders, and boards in particular, play a vital role in setting the strategic direction of NHS organisations and creating a supportive culture and environment for quality improvement. Features of boards that are successful in driving quality improvement include: having clear goals for improving quality and making them a top priority regularly reviewing quality performance in meetings having a dedicated quality committee having board members with experience and training in quality improvement.

Share responsibility for quality improvement with leaders at all levels While the role of boards is key, responsibility for leading quality improvement also extends well beyond the most senior leaders in the NHS. Develop the skills and capabilities for improvement Frontline staff engaged in quality improvement need to be given the skills required to identify quality problems, carry out tests of change, measure their impact and act on the results.

Use data effectively Intelligent use of data is central to any efforts to improve quality. In practice, this means having: a compelling vision for the future, shared at all levels within the organisation clear, aligned objectives for all teams, departments and individual staff supportive and enabling people management and high levels of staff engagement learning, innovation and quality improvement embedded in the practice of all staff effective teamworking West et al Enable and support frontline staff to engage in quality improvement Many of the most successful quality improvement initiatives in the NHS have been identified, designed and implemented by teams working at the front line.

Work as a system Improving quality will often require organisations to work together and pool resources across local systems of care Ham and Alderwick References Academy of Medical Royal Colleges Related content. Paid event Quality improvement in health care: lessons on leading and implementing solutions.

Report Embedding a culture of quality improvement Our report explores the factors that have helped NHS organisations launch and sustain a quality improvement strategy.

Log in to post comments Reply Link to comment. The article clearly shows how a focus on quality and improvement is important in the NHS, as it has been in the private sector now for decades. Health Aff. This article provides an excellent summary of the need to foster leadership and change management skills in primary care physicians in order for physicians to remain effective caregivers in the new primary care models. Quality improvement and maintenance of certification.

Acad Pediatr. Harvard Bus Rev. Health systems innovation at academic health centers: leading in a new era of health care delivery. Acad Med. Epub ahead of print. This article reviews the current metrics for achieving promotion in academic health centers and highlights the need for better defined pathways to promotion for physicians who pursue careers in health systems transformation.

The Team Handbook, 3 rd edition. This is a textbook with practical step-by-step instructions for development of self-sustaining and productive teams. It is a necessity for any individual beginning improvement work.

Porter ME. What is value in health care? N Engl J Med. This article helps establish a framework for improving outcomes while reducing costs. It emphasizes the importance of selecting outcomes that are meanigful to both healthcare providers and patients in an effort to truly promote value in healthcare.

Improving outcomes for underserved adolescents with asthma. Improving primary care for patients with chronic illness. A framework for linking culture and improvement initiatives in organizations.

Acad Manag Rev. Pettigrew A. The awakening giant: change and continuity in ICI. Oxford: Blackwell; Secretary of State for Health. The new NHS modern and dependable: a national framework for assessing Performance. HMSO; Assessing the impact of continuous quality improvement on clinical practice: what it will take. Milibank Q. Berwick DM. Organisational culture and quality of health care.

Quality Health Care. Carman, et al. Health Serv Res. Remaking health care in America. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; The awareness-to-adherence model of the steps to clinical guidelines compliance.

The case of pediatric vaccine recommendations. Med Care. Evidence-based practice barriers and facilitators from continuous quality improvement perspective: an integrative review. J Nursing Manag. Diffusion of innovations in service organizations: systematic review and recommendations. Milbank Q. The improvement guide. San Francisco: Jossey-Boss; Edwards N, Barker PM.

The importance of context in implementation research. J Acquir Immune Defic Syndr. This article describes the importance of context in achieving successful implementation of complex interventions to decrease mother to child transmission of HIV in South Africa.

The authors provide an excellent overview of the importance of contextual characteristics in QI work. Guide to patient and family engagement: environmental scan report. Rockville, MD. Agency for Healthcare and Research Quality, Patient engagement in research: a systematic review.

Cumulative complexity: a functional, patient-centered model of patient complexity can improve research and practice. J of Clin Epi. Decision aids for people facing health treatment or screening decisions. The Cochrane, Database. Preparing for an epidemic of limited health literacy: weathering the perfect storm. J of Gen Int Med. We need minimally disruptive medicine. Download references. Catherine K.

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors. You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar. Correspondence to Catherine K. Hart MD. Reprints and Permissions. Hart, C. Curr Treat Options Peds 1 , — Download citation. Published : 29 September Issue Date : December Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:.

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article. Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative. Skip to main content. Search SpringerLink Search. Download PDF. Opinion statement Quality improvement work in healthcare requires an understanding of not only the methodology and science of improvement but also a mastery of the concepts of change management. Working on a manuscript? Learn more. Introduction As with any field in medicine, successful quality improvement QI is both an art and a science.

Leadership Organizational change is difficult, and changing organizational activities in an attempt to improve quality is perhaps one of the more challenging change initiatives recently introduced into the U. Building Teams Having a strong, competent leader is essential, but successful, sustainable QI also requires a capable team.

Culture Organizational culture is generally perceived to be a critical factor in the relative success or failures of organizational innovation [ 15 ]. Context There are two primary ways that context must be considered in healthcare QI. Google Scholar Lee TH. Article Google Scholar Crossing the quality chasm: a new health system for the 21st century. Google Scholar Pettigrew A. Google Scholar Secretary of State for Health.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors. Hart MD View author publications. View author publications. Rights and permissions Reprints and Permissions.

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