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The LPT QI Programme:
LPT (Leicestershire Partnership Trust) Trust-Wide Quality Improvement programme ‘WeImproveQ’ was officially launched in November 2019. The programme was co-designed following a staff consultation identifying what was important to them, helping create changes and improvements that they wanted to lead on locally.
The QI programme reflects their collective ambition to embed the NHS Improvement Model and PDSA as a systematic approach to QI and learning within the organisation and with their system partners in developing integrated care delivery.
By empowering staff to make improvements on the frontline, LPT have already seen rapid development during the Covid-19 pandemic as there is great energy for change and improvement. They have embraced flexible, adaptable and virtual learning/coaching to reach out to staff and stay connected through Life QI.
‘WeImproveQ’ focuses on aligning improvement projects to their organisational ‘Step Up To Great’ priorities as well as building on and strengthening their service delivery to their patients and carers by excelling in implementing evidenced based practice that drives up quality standards to achieve excellence.
Quality Improvement Plan:
The ‘Step Up To Great’ Quality Improvement Plan is a high-level document that sets out LPT’s intentions to deliver excellent care every time to every patient.
Measurements are based on:
- Demonstrating continuous quality improvement
- Ensuring learning and actions are embedded in the quality and safety of their services
- Evidencing all the above in Life QI
Implementation Stage:
- LPT have started Implementing Collaborative Care Planning
- Began developing a QI learning and improvement approach to maximise the use and capability of an Electronic Patient Record system
- Improving their undertaking of clinical observations in a nonphysical way for patients on Older People’s Mental Health wards, to identify early signs of physical deterioration reducing insulin errors in community health services
Scale Up and Spread:
The scaling up of implementation of a single shared systematic approach to QI has been strengthened by the engagement of staff in using the integrated software system, Life QI.
Year 1 - Focused on a QI programme to grow and develop QI expertise and knowledge collectively through advisors into directorate’s, particularly in designing and implementing QI projects through PDSA.
Year 2 – Focusing on continuously embedding the systematic approach and enabling staff to learn to deepen skills in the application of measurement, applying PDSA methodically and learning how to progress projects through the IHI progress scale with evidence.
LPT developed a QI approach that consists of six key principles to help equip them with the skills and resources to consistently drive improvement:
Life QI helps to evidence LPT’s QI work
Evidencing the value of Quality Improvement to improving service delivery for staff, directorates, executive and the board with which Life QI is enabling the Trust to do this through the ability to provide robust and tailored reporting to organisational priorities whilst demonstrating impact.
“The pandemic has been challenging although we can evidence significant growth during this period which is remarkable and testament to staff who want to make improvement happen and an improvement mindset present in LPT” Lyn Williams, QI Lead, LPT
Throughout the trust Life QI is …
- Used as the central repository of QI work taking place across the Trust; it is fundamental to the running of QI projects and provides a robust systematic structure for teams to follow.
- Set up according to the Trust’s structure. This includes specific groups at Directorate level, and within each Directorate, the Service Lines that sit within it.
- Ensuring each project that is created is linked to the Directorate that the project is taking place in and then narrowed down to the service line.
- A streamlined and visible way of understanding QI work happening across all the Directorates is now possible using Life QI and provides a systematic and time saving way of tracking work.
Life QI Analytics Dashboards
Customised dashboards in Life QI have been a great asset, allowing LPT to report on QI as a whole Trust, as well as subset dashboards to report on QI work at a directorate level.
Dashboards are set up to track active/ completed projects and activities of the projects such as progressing well and demonstrating improvement. Tracking project progression helps to highlight stalled projects, giving QI leads the opportunity to identify the reasons in more detail.
Regular dashboard reviews are a core standard across the Trust. Directorate QI Advisor and Clinical Governance leads take ownership of the QI work taking place within their area, using Life QI, they can access, up to date information, all in one place.
LPT also use Life QI to track QI in line with the CQC standards and understand the quantity and quality of projects targeted at these important key areas.
Dashboards are embedded into Trust level governance and reporting structures, providing an easy and innovative way to shine a light on the work taking place across the Trust at all levels.
QI Training and Development of Staff:
A critical part of the Leicestershire Trust’s improvement journey has been the development of a work-based training programme ‘QI in a Box’ alongside running Life QI Masterclasses.
“The Masterclasses have been very popular and increase the awareness of how much Life QI can do to support our work taking place.” – Lyn Williams – QI Trust Lead, LPT
There are also a central group of Core Improvement Knowledge Hub (IKH) advisors that take on the lead role of QI across the trust and support teams with their projects in the system.
Life QI assists LPT to track the caseload of each advisor evaluating their capacity and demand and gain a rich oversight into the appetite of QI and how best to sustainably manage the work going forward.
“Life QI is critical in supporting and sharing learning” Lyn Williams - QI Trust Lead, LPT
The Life QI Difference …
“Life QI has undoubtedly provided us with a learning platform for the rigorous application of the systematic approach to QI. It has provided a way for staff to be able to see how a ‘change model’ is developed through aims, drivers and change ideas” Lyn Williams, QI Trust Lead, LPT
- Provides LPT a robust system of oversight and the capability at scale of the monitoring and progression of a trust-wide programme of QI projects in a large NHS trust.
- Offers repository of projects and gives LPT the ability to share learning across a large geographically dispersed NHS trust.
- Supports a continuation of cross organisational learning and team working remotely throughout the Covid-19 pandemic. From a business continuity perspective this has been invaluable during this time.
- A great way to share what and how staff have implemented improvement.
- A way to collaborate and share improvement projects with others remotely.
- Life QI presented a way to join a professional online community who can share their success stories.
Life QI’s Best Bits
“First and foremost, it is an excellent learning system developed with QI best practice in mind, secondly as a learning repository it provides the evidence of the value that QI can bring to improvement of NHS services.” Lyn Williams, QI Lead, LPT
About LPT:
In April 2011, mental health and learning disability services in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland were brought together with local community services and families, children and young people’s services to create Leicestershire Partnership NHS Trust (LPT). LPT provide community health and mental health support to over 1 million people living in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
References:
- Header Image: Senior Leadership team – Twitter post
- Step up to great image - Twitter post
- Infographic - WeImproveQ Website
- Life QI Screen Shots – LPT’s Life QI Programme
