issuu.com/SECQO twitter.com/SECSHAQO www.QualityObservatory.nhs.uk http://www.networks.nhs.uk/nhs-networks/sec-qo Volume 8 Issue 4 October 2014 This year is the 75th anniversary of the film of The Wizard of Oz*, so this issue we’re going to follow the yellow brick road to find out all about the UK Improvement Alliance, the NHS Safety Thermometer event, and population segmentation. There is however a parallel to be made between Dorothy’s travelling companions and the NHS! The lion, the tin man, and the scarecrow wanted three things from the wizard: courage, heart, and brains. These three things, I would suggest, are what any NHS employee needs to make the system run smoothly and efficiently. Yeah—I know that sounds obvious, but how many ideas have we all seen around the system, that are, seemingly ill-thought out, or ones that seem intelligent but actually don’t take caring for the patient into account, or those ones that are just too timid and don’t go far enough because people are afraid of the consequences. I’ve been in the NHS long enough to have seen all kinds of this stuff floating around. It’s difficult to get the balance right. Cold hard facts can tell you that the sensible thing to do for the system is to shut a hospital, but then that’s perceived as heartless to the patients using that hospital, and so a muddled compromise is made that, in the end, increases inefficiency and patient dissatisfaction. So I can only hope that we all use these three qualities in a balanced and thoughtful way, because if the NHS is to thrive through change this is the best way forward. And with that I’ll click my heels and say “There’s no place like home” *It’s also the 75th anniversary of Batman this year, and in hindsight if I’d thought of that sooner I’d have been photoshopped into a cooler (although probably no less camp) picture! Welcome to Knowledge Matters Inside This Issue : Population segmentation using adjusted clinical groups 2 National Cancer Experience Patient Survey 8 News 11 Questionnaire design in health research 4 Has the Friends and Family Test made a difference? 9 Back Page 12 Safety in Numbers: NHS Safety Thermom- eter Event 6 UK Improvement Alliance Launch 10
Safety Thermometer, UK Improvement Alliance, Population Segregation, Survey Design, Friends & Family Test
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This year is the 75th anniversary of the film of The Wizard of Oz*, so this issue we’re going to follow the yellow brick road to find out all about the UK Improvement Alliance, the NHS Safety Thermometer event, and population segmentation.
There is however a parallel to be made between Dorothy’s travelling companions and the NHS! The lion, the tin man, and the scarecrow wanted three things from the wizard: courage, heart, and brains. These three things, I would suggest, are what any NHS employee needs to make the system run smoothly and efficiently. Yeah—I know that sounds obvious, but how many ideas have we all seen around the system, that are, seemingly ill-thought out, or ones that seem intelligent but actually don’t take caring for the patient into account, or those ones that are just too timid and don’t go far enough because people are afraid of the consequences. I’ve been in the NHS long enough to have seen all kinds of this stuff floating around. It’s difficult to get the balance right. Cold hard facts can tell you that the sensible thing to do for the system is to shut a hospital, but then that’s perceived as heartless to the patients using that hospital, and so a muddled compromise is made that, in the end, increases inefficiency and patient dissatisfaction. So I can only hope that we all use these three qualities in a balanced and thoughtful way, because if the NHS is to thrive through change this is the best way forward.
And with that I’ll click my heels and say “There’s no place like home6”
*It’s also the 75th anniversary of Batman this year, and in hindsight if I’d thought of that sooner I’d have been photoshopped into a cooler (although probably no less camp) picture!
Welcome to Knowledge Matters
Inside This Issue :
Population segmentation using adjusted
clinical groups
2 National Cancer Experience Patient
Survey
8 News 11
Questionnaire design in health research 4 Has the Friends and Family Test made a
On Wednesday the 29th of October the UK Improvement Alliance (UKIA) held a launch event. UKIA has set out to bring together quality improvement organisations to support each other and ‘go further, faster together’. A couple of team members have been involved in some early discussions, but this event gave some other team members to go along, meet some like minded people from other organisations and network a bit. Here’s what they thought:
“It was indeed a privilege to be among experienced and talented clinician/measurement leaders of the home na-tions of the United Kingdom to discuss the future ‘gets’ and ‘gives’ possibilities through a UKIA membership. What I took away with me – the motivation to reflect on healthcare quality improvement and the importance of network-ing to achieve this national goal; that I was witnessing history in the making as a knowledge base on healthcare and safety monitoring and improvement was being developed; that measurement or any of my daily tasks are slightly scary to many and the Alliance will enable collaboration to create a better understanding; a further appreci-ation of the work accomplished through Friends and Family Test (my main task!) to improve healthcare; and how bizarre I must be because everyone else present seemed to have pets and/or children!”
-Trishna Julha, Programme Support Analyst
“I was unsure what to expect from the day when I first arrived at the UKIA launch event in London. I hadn't previ-ously been involved in this project which aims to bring together quality improvement organisations from all four UK nations, however I was certainly struck by the potential of these QI experts working together as an alliance to share best (and worst!) practice across the whole spectrum of providers. Particularly interesting were the round table discussions which took place after lunch, where a different element of the improvement process was discussed at each table. One of these was hosted by the good old Quality Observa-tory, where Kate led conversations and encouraged ideas about the use of data and measurement to underpin improvement strategies. Although the room was filled with some fairly senior leaders from the world of healthcare, it was apparent that the contribution by us analytical types is vital to the improvement process.”
-Nikki Tizzard, Specialist Analyst
“I was very grateful to be able to attend the UKIA event as it was lovely to see that there were so many like-
minded people when it comes to improving quality within the NHS. I felt a bit out of place at first with the amount of people who had much more experience and expertise than myself however, as the morning went on I felt very
welcome and involved. The event was a great way to see the impact that our team can have (and does have) with other organisations from different areas of expertise on a wider scale rather than just what I've looked at and
been told. It's safe to say that this is not the last we have heard on improving quality, and I'm very proud and ex-cited to be part of it all!”
-Becki Ehren, Team Assistant
The round table discussions hosted by QO brought out some fascinating insights into the barriers to good measurement and provided some great ideas for how the UKIA could mobilise to assist. The main themes of dis-cussions included:
• Feeding measurement back into frontline teams
• Asking the right questions!
• Decoupling ‘data’ from ‘measurement’
• Measurement for improvement vs Measurement for judgement
• Measurement and analytical capacity
• Importance of capturing qualitative data and incorporating this along-side the quantitative piece
In September the QO team held a ‘team-building’ day, firstly to officially welcome our new recruits and secondly to remind ourselves what each other looks like, since we haven’t been able to work together in the same office since March 2013!
As it was a Friday we naturally kicked off proceedings with lunch in our local, then headed off to
nearby Crawley for a spot of bowling - boys vs girls! Now... technically the girls won, however the boys cried foul as they considered it cheating that some of the girls had used the ‘bumpers’ (which prevent the ball falling into the gutter).
Anyway, we eventually got bored arguing about it and went to the pub instead. We finished off the evening with a very fine meal, where we bonded over our shared love of honeycomb smash cheesecake!
The NHS Five Year Forward View
Simon Stevens – NHS Chief Executive – sets out his five year view for the NHS
The NHS Five Year Forward View was published on 23 October 2014 and sets out a vision for the future of the NHS.
This vision looks at the need for change and how best that this can be realised in the current socio-economic climate.
Further information is available from www.england.nhs.uk/ourwork/futurenhs/5yfv-
fore/
Potential Job Opportunities in the QO
The Quality Observatory team may be looking to expand further in the future, so if you’re interested in joining the best analytical team in the known universe (if we say so ourselves) please keep an eye out on the NHS Jobs website:
(https://www.jobs.nhs.uk/)
Kate Takes Great Strides for the Samaritans
On 21st September Kate ran 13.1 miles in an effort to raise £250 for The Samaritans’ work in East Surrey, in the first ever adidas Run Reigate Half Marathon.
So how did she get on? Six months of training paid off for Kate, who was one of 5,000 people running for charity. She crossed the finish line after a very respectable 2 hours and 32 minutes.
Well done Kate!
NEWS
Knowledge matters is the newsletter of NHS South East Coast’s Quality Observatory, to discuss any items raised in this publication, for further information or to be added to our distribution list, please contact us.
Hosted by: Central Southern Commissioning Support Unit
Birthdays Dani and Nikki have both had birthdays since the last issue and, as these pictures show, both received a bottle of something nice from the rest of the team.
Fascinating Facts
Surgeon Harold Gillies, horrified by the appalling injuries which resulted from shrapnel in World War 1, pioneered early techniques of facial reconstruction, and sparked the invention of plastic surgery.
Somewhere under my stomach, I'm quite thin
But you'd never know because I've got too much skin
Somewhere under my stomach, I'm petite,
It's just that all the ale and cakes are really indiscrete
Obesity's an epidemic
And the symptoms build and creep with every bite I eat
Where pounds pile on like building blocks
Away above the muffin tops, I'll have just one more sweet!
Somewhere under my stomach, I'm quite spry
Other people are quite healthy, why then, oh, why can't I?
If everyone can be fit and healthy
Why, oh why can't I?
Simon says>>.
During WW1 a US Army doctor, Captain Oswald Robertson, established the first blood bank in 1917. Sodium citrate was used to prevent the blood from coagulating and it was kept on ice for up to 28 days before being used in life-saving surgery.
Song for Obesity
(with apologies to Judy Garland>)
Congratulations to the Cheemas! Two of the pillars of the QO, Kate and Kiran Cheema, celebrated their 10 year wedding anniversary with a trip to Budapest, where it all began when they got engaged. Altogether now, aaaahh6...