News & Updates
What is it like being a QI Coach?
18 June 2019
Charles Kennedy-Scott and Sharon Gugerly are both coaches currently supporting our Quality Improvement Programme. Here’s their views on what are the main duties of a QI coach and how they have been using QI skills to help teams achieve their aims. I am a Quality and Performance Improvement Facilitator – I’m currently working on a… Read More
QI Essentials: Thinking of holding a meeting for QI? Read this first…
13 June 2019
Sometimes a 15-minutes huddle is more efficient than a 1-hour meeting… Have a read of Amar’s latest QI Essentials blog for tips on how to run effective Quality Improvement meetings. For most of us, when we think about how to bring people together to work on something, our first thought is often to… Read More
Highlights from our Quality Conference
21 May 2019
On Tuesday 14th May we were delighted to welcome over 400 people, including staff, service users, carers, governors and external guests to the 5th ELFT Quality Conference. This year’s event was special because it was co-designed with service users and carers, who helped shape the overall theme of the event as well as the content… Read More
QI Essentials: The daily practice of improvement
26 April 2019
What does it take to make quality improvement a part of our every day habits and behaviours? Have a read of Amar’s latest QI Essentials blog… In “Outliers – the story of success”, Malcolm Gladwell challenges the notion that success is based on innate skill, hard work or focused ambition. Or that we… Read More
Tower Hamlets and Corporate services: a Triple Aim update
24 April 2019
Triple Aim work is picking up pace in several directorates across East London NHS Foundation Trust. Here are the latest updates from Tower Hamlets and Corporate services. Tower Hamlets Tower Hamlets as a directorate have chosen to use the Triple Aim framework to improve the quality of life of those who are homeless. With… Read More
National Award Nomination for Inspirational Rachel Luby, from John Howard centre
24 April 2019
An inspirational clinical lead has been shortlisted for a national award in recognition of her tireless work for improved sexual health and expression within mental health services. Rachel Luby has been nominated for a Mental Health Nursing Award as part of RCNi Nursing Awards 2019. She has led a Quality Improvement project at the Trust’s… Read More
Triple Aim work in Newham
24 April 2019
The team in Newham have been busy getting underway with their Triple Aim work looking at improving the lives of those who live in Newham. Here are some thoughts from Ed Lander, Newham Crisis Pathway Project Lead . Where are we focusing our efforts? Newham’s Triple Aim work is focusing upon a population who… Read More
Three Part Data Review: Learning and Disabilities service in Bedfordshire & Luton
23 April 2019
One of the key steps in using the triple aim approach to improving quality of life for those we serve is a good understanding of assets and needs within the specific population you are working with. The three part data review is the simple, systematic way to start learning about assets and needs. This involves the following… Read More
Over 18 safety huddles a week and we’re just getting started
11 April 2019
Luton and Bedfordshire adult mental health wards were the last to trial the Trust’s violence reduction change bundle, spread from Tower Hamlets ward-by-ward across the Trust. Their aim was to reduce physical violence on inpatient wards by 30% by September 2018. Between July and September 2018, progress was rapid. Wards started holding regular safety huddles… Read More
Initiative to Increase Engagement with BAME Population
26 March 2019
Colleagues at Luton’s Memory Assessment Service are working to improve the engagement and experience of people from BAME communities. Engagement with the South Asian community, the second largest ethnic group in the area after the white British population, is now possible through the creation and distribution of multilingual leaflets to local GPs and wellbeing groups…. Read More
Improving the quality of services in North Hackney CMHT
21 March 2019
The City and Hackney North team joined the priority formally in July-August 2018, having started to look at sources of dissatisfaction for staff and service users around care provision. As with the first pilot teams, initial change ideas revolved around staff related issues/environment, in particular respecting noise levels and structures that would facilitate or hinder… Read More
Reshaping relationships: the Isle of Dogs Community Mental Health Service story
21 March 2019
In January 2017, the team started to look at service level changes and experience of service users and staff. The reasoning behind it was that people were dissatisfied with the service, staff morale was low, turnover in the team was high, as was the number of complaints. Those issues needed to be addressed as a… Read More
Reshaping services in Newham: the South Community Recovery team
21 March 2019
Here’s an overview of the Reshaping Community Services work being carried out in Newham, in the South Community Recovery team, one of the first pilot teams in this Quality Improvement priority area. As part of their project, the team were aiming to improve the satisfaction with care provided by staff and received by service users…. Read More
Discharge counselling: improving patient support by the Newham Pharmacy team
20 March 2019
Service users were being discharged by the Newham Centre for Mental Health without receiving discharged counselling from the pharmacy team. A project was then launched to tackle this issue, with an aim of increasing discharge counselling rate from 0% to 50%. Find out how the team managed to achieve this aim and what they are… Read More
Reshaping Community Services with service users in East London
19 March 2019
If a mental health community team could have an open hand at improving care delivery, what would their service users focus on? Discover how teams from directorates at East London Foundation Trust worked together with service users to reshape services in this blog by Senior Improvement Advisor Francisco Frasquilho. The Early Days In late 2016,… Read More
QI Essentials: What does a Chief Quality Officer do?
18 March 2019
What is the role of a CQO? There are still very few chief quality officers in the UK, although it’s a common role in the US. In this blog, Dr Amar Shah reflects on the role and responsibilities of a Chief Quality Officer… I figured it was probably about time to tackle this… Read More
Lea Ward Staff Introduce Sleeping Packs for Patients
8 March 2019
Innovative staff at Lea Ward in Tower Hamlets have introduced sleeping packs to help service users get the best rest possible as part of their mental health recovery. Service users at the male inpatient ward are given a pack including an eye mask, ear plugs, bag of lavender to put in the pillow case for… Read More
CAMHS Access and Flow series
8 March 2019
Here you can access seven stories about improving access and flow in our Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services. Click on the icons to view.
Improving access and flow in the Tower Hamlets Neurodevelopmental CAMHS pathway
4 March 2019
In our last story of the Improving access and flow within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services series, discover how the Neurodevelopmental team (NDT) in Tower Hamlets CAMHS managed to reduce the percentage of missed appointments by 55% while also making changes to the team structure. Here’s the story: CAMHS Access and Flow series… Read More
Improving access and flow: Luton CAMHS story
26 February 2019
In our fifth story of the Improving access and flow within Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services series, discover how the Luton CAMHS team found new ways to review referrals and achieved a 19% reduction from referral to second appointment. Luton and Bedford CAMHS also offered QI training to service users and now have a group of young people ready… Read More
