Aqua

Better Tomorrow: Learning from deaths, learning for lives

NHS Better Tomorrow is a programme dedicated to Learning from Deaths, and focusses on how that learning can influence future patient care. It originated from a passion for improving care, and a respect for Learning from Deaths.

Our joint offer from Aqua and Better Tomorrow includes access to a wide range of resources and a bespoke 3-stage offer that we will work with you to develop.

We are also proud to be working closely with the Better Tomorrow team to enable organisations to access SJR Plus.

Our aims are to:

  • Develop an open culture of discussing and learning from deaths across care boundaries
  • Ensure the voices of the patient and bereaved are included in learning from deaths
  • Complement and enhance existing or developing scrutiny of deaths
  • Promote organisational best practice from process to improvement in learning from deaths
  • Develop behaviours of systematic review and improvement in learning from deaths
  • Develop tools and methods for multidisciplinary teams, with opportunities for training and support
  • Develop a community of practice for support, sustainability and shared experience of success
  • Help organisations embed their strategies for developing learning from deaths into improvement

Aqua’s Better Tomorrow: Learning from Deaths: SJRPlus Training Update Session

On 15th January 2025 we held a SJRPlus Training Update session.

We had some great conversations and benefitted from SJRPlus data driven clinical discussions that matter to our patient care: learning from deaths, learning for lives; NHS services; and improvement priorities.

Thank you to everyone who attended and contributed, especially to our Learning from Deaths clinical/programme leads. You can find the recording and slides for the session here:

For a further conversation or to find out more about how we can help you, please get in touch:

Contact us

Aqua’s Better Tomorrow: Learning from deaths using SJRPlus collaborative workshop

On 21st October 2024, we held a collaborative workshop for SJRPlus members, where we discussed:

  • Current processes and any operational challenges
  • Quality of SJRs and potential improvements
  • Reporting for impact

Thank you to everyone who attended, you can find the recording and slides for the session here:

For a further conversation or to find out more about how we can help you, please get in touch:

Contact us

Taster Session for Mental Health Services

On 1 July we held a taster session for mental health services, where we discussed how we can help you:

  • Develop an open culture of discussing and learning from deaths
  • Move beyond standard mortality case review to learning from deaths, to drive improvements for learning for lives
  • Establish and embed a sustainable culture of learning for improvement

Thank you to everyone who attended, you can find the recording and slides for the session here:

For a further conversation or to find out more about how we can help you, please get in touch:

Contact us

SJR Plus

We have taken over the running SJR Plus from NHS England, which is a digital platform for managing structured judgement reviews. This data collection tool has associated interactive standardised reporting and a dashboard which guides clinical reviewers in making judgements with a systematic approach.

Features include:

  • Demographic section to consider potential inequalities in access or experience
  • Phases of care section: first 24 hours of care or first contact, ongoing care and end of life care with narrative and care gradings
  • Separate section for any procedure requiring consent
  • Capture of problems in care reflecting real clinical concerns
  • Opportunity to record second review – expert or panel review
  • Capture of positive lessons to embed good practice and negative lessons to identify areas for improvement
  • Embedded reporting function and dashboard
  • Report functions managed locally allow trend analyses and evidence improvement over time

If your organisation currently uses the app, you will need to confirm an agreement in principle by the end of June 2024 to continue using it. Contact us now if you are yet to confirm this or if you are interested in joining SJR Plus.

Upcoming sessions

SJR Plus Training for SJR plus members

As part of your annual SJR Plus subscription, you have access to our training and collaborative events.

Session aims:

  • Increase your understanding of learning from deaths
  • Build your capability to develop and assess assurance around quality of care
  • Be confident to make improvements to patient safety and service provision

In the session we will cover:

  • The principles of structured judgement review
  • The basics of SJRPlus
  • Using clinical skill in making judgements
  • Gathering qualitative and quantitative information
  • Capturing positive lessons and areas for improvement
  • Sharing the output to demonstrate trends and learning
  • Using dashboards to evidence improvement

Who can attend?

The session is open to subscribed SJR Plus users only including local admins, all reviewers, Trust medical directors and patient safety and mortality leads.

The session will take place on 16 July from 12.30pm – 2pm and will be delivered virtually.

Register now

More Information

You can keep up to date with support, activities and ideas on the Better Tomorrow FutureNHS page. Here you will find background literature and information about developments in Learning from Deaths, case reviews and improvement approaches.

Get in touch with us to find out how your organisation can utilise the NHS Better Tomorrow programme and SJRPlus.

Contact us

If you’d like to find out more, or have comments and enquiries please get in touch.

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