Supporting people-led innovation in the NHS
16 & 17 March 2015Claudia Bloom and Duncan Finch, directors of Avanti Architects were delighted to be invited to take part in a Quality Improvement Sprint at Imperial College Healthcare this month. These exciting events, facilitated by a representative from the Royal College of Arts, aim to improve the way health care is provided both at Imperial College Healthcare Trust’s hospitals and beyond.
Improving the quality of services is a key requirement within the NHS, supported by initiatives such as the Commissioning for Quality and Innovation (CQIN) payment framework, and quality accounts.
The forty participants came from a variety of professional backgrounds from care assistants to PHD students, and ‘experience design’ consultants to senior consultants. Over 48 hours teams explored issues such as staff morale, the referrals process and the discharge of outpatients. Participants talked to staff and patients about the problems before working with facilitator Dan Phillips to generate ideas and realistic solutions. The aspiration is that proposals are taken back to the department and implemented, for example previous sprints have resulted in improvements to processing patient blood samples.
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Duncan Finch said: “The sprint was a great learning experience which gave us insight into the management of a hospital and the complexities of working at the front line. It opened our eyes to the challenges our clients face implementing change in such a complex and multi layered environment. We came away enthused by the great spirit of public service demonstrated by Imperial’s staff.”