These tools are aligned around a particular approach, whether it is an improvement approach such as Lean, or whether you are specifically looking at your communication approach throughout the life of your improvement project.
It is of vital importance to communicate throughout your improvement project. However, these tools will help you identify who to communicate with, why and how.
People are at the heart of any change you make and these tools and techniques will help you understand the impact that making a change can have on individuals – both staff and patients – and consider how to involve them in the project in a way that will help you to make a sustainable improvement.
These are tried and tested tools and techniques that will help you to move on your thinking and come up with new solutions and perspectives.
Project management and its associated tools and techniques should be uppermost in your thoughts from the initiation to the completion of a project. Regardless of your project management approach (eg our six stage approach or PRINCE2), it can be enhanced with the use of these tools.
If you are commissioning a service then these tools may be of particular use in helping with an improvement that you wish to make.
These tools and techniques are related to or have their origins in the Lean principles around reducing waste, improving smoothness of flow and maintaining productivity.
These tools and techniques are related to or have their origins in the Six Sigma principles around improving processes to have increased reliability and variation reduction, by identifying and removing defects to improve the quality of the outputs of a process and by implementing a measurement-based strategy.
These tools and techniques will help you to reduce the variation in your processes and services and so improve quality and safety of care.
These tools and techniques will help you to increase the reliability of your processes and services to improve quality and safety of care.
Clinical systems improvement (CSI) can be described as evidence-based operations management for healthcare. This term is used to describe a body of knowledge adapted from systems engineering and other disciplines to improve clinical processes. These tools and techniques all support this approach.
AQ: Elective Hip and Knee Replacement – Behind the Numbers
Demand for elective care has risen over the recent years and this has been exacerbated by the pandemic. This report includes insights from analysis of Advancing Quality (AQ) programme data […]
AQ: Improving Care for Patients with Sepsis in an Acute Trust
Southport and Ormskirk Hospital NHS Trust provides acute hospital services to 258,000 people across Southport, Formby and West Lancashire. Acute care is provided at Southport and Formby District General Hospital and Ormskirk and District General Hospital. Sepsis accounts for around 1,200 acute admissions to the trust each year.
AQ: Aintree Improvement Journey for Patients with Alcohol Related Liver Disease
Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust joined the Advancing Quality (AQ) programme at its launch in 2008 and is currently participating in eight clinical focus areas (CFA), this includes Alcohol Related Liver Disease (ARLD).
AQ: Reducing Avoidable Harm through Patient Assessment & Escalation
In patients who are, or become acutely unwell in hospital, there is evidence that deterioration is not always recognised or it is not acted on rapidly enough (NICE, 2007). The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust wanted to improve observation recording, recognition and response to deteriorating patients using the NEWS assessment tool.
AQ: Reducing Mortality in Community Acquired Pneumonia (Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
The NICE (2014) guidance publication ‘Pneumonia in Adult: Diagnosis & Management’ covers diagnosing and managing Community Acquired Pneumonia (CAP) in adults. Its aim is to improve the accurate assessment and diagnosis of pneumonia to help guide antibiotic prescription and ensure that people receive the right care. It estimates a mortality rate between 5% and 14% for patients admitted to hospital with CAP.
AQ: Serum Lactate in the Treatment of Sepsis
he Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust (RLBUHT) identified an opportunity to improve the early diagnosis of patients with sepsis. Evidence suggests that the sickest sepsis patients have high levels of serum lactate. Timely measurement of serum lactate levels in patient pathways can improve early diagnosis which will lead to improved outcomes.
AQ: Embedding Early Assessment In Out of Hours Primary Care
Sepsis and deterioration is a huge clinical problem and 70% of sepsis cases originate in Primary Care. In the last five years we have experienced a culture shift in primary care; from seeing sepsis as an acute condition that is difficult to detect, to recognising the need to actively assess patients where infection could be causing significant illness or deterioration.
AQ: Effective Management of Frailty in Hip & Knee Replacement (Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust)
NHS England defines frailty as ‘where someone is less able to cope with and recover from accidents, physical illness or other stressful events’1. As the population ages, so frailty rates increase, presenting challenges to care systems. Elective hip and knee replacement patients undergo pre-surgical checks to ensure they are able to cope with their procedure.
AQ: Improving the Management of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI)- Role of the AKI Pharmacist
The 2009 NCEPOD report, Adding Insult to Injury, reviewed outcomes for patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) in hospital. The report found that medication was the most common AKI risk factor not assessed and only 15% of patients had their medication altered to renal doses. The national AKI programme Think Kidneys advises that medicines optimisation is essential to reduce the risk of AKI and mitigate its severity if it occurs.
AQ: Improving Care for Patients with Sepsis in an Acute Trust
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition which has in recent years become a high priority for healthcare providers. Early recognition and prompt management of sepsis can improve outcomes for patients, reducing the risk of mortality and morbidity. This could potentially save 14,000 lives and result in 400,000 fewer days in hospital for patients every year, according to estimates by the Sepsis Trust.
AQ: A Collaborative Approach to the Management of Acute Kidney Injury (AKI)
Southport and Ormskirk Hospitals NHS Trust has established a steering group to improve care for patients with AKI. The group is using the care bundle data from the Advancing Quality Alliance (AQuA) Advancing Quality (AQ) AKI programme to monitor care delivery for patients with AKI and to provide a framework for improvement.
AQ: Improving the Ultrasound Scanning Process for Patients with Acute Kidney Injury
Acute kidney injury (AKI) may sometimes be caused by an obstruction in the urinary tract, which can require treatment with a nephrostomy. It is important that people with AKI who are suspected of having a urinary obstruction receive an ultrasound scan early in their management, as outlined in national guidance (NICE, 2019).
