A new home for the Q community

We know that improvement approaches are critical to support the huge ambitions for health and care across the UK and Ireland. 

Q is here to help you respond to those pressures and challenges. We enable you to make the most of your skills and knowledge in a thriving and inclusive community. 

However, to meet the changing needs of the health and care system, Q needs to adapt too. Today, we’re excited to share important developments in Q’s journey. 

We’re delighted to announce that the Q community has a new home with the NHS Confederation. 

The NHS Confederation is the membership organisation that brings together, supports and speaks for the whole health care system in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

Moving Q to work from within the NHS Confederation builds on the great foundations of the existing strong partnership between the Health Foundation, Q and the NHS Confederation. 

We’re confident that bringing together our experience, connections and knowledge will enrich the value the NHS Confederation and Q provide our members, as well as our impact on health and care. 

Q’s work and membership will continue to span England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland. NHS Confederation colleagues are also keen to explore future opportunities to support learning and collaboration in Scotland and Ireland. 

Making all the changes needed in health care right now requires people with a breadth of improvement, delivery and leadership skills. We’re really thrilled to enable collaboration across our memberships and open opportunities for greater influence and impact. 

Together we will lead bold, inclusive, collaborative and purposeful improvement that spans sectors. 
 

Having started and grown the Q community for the past 10 years, the Health Foundation is committed to remaining a core partner. It will continue to support our valuable work, with funding support to 2030. 

In developing its next 5‑year strategy, the Health Foundation has carefully considered what it must prioritise to build a healthier UK. And due to the tough economic context, its funding for the community will reduce. 

The Health Foundation’s support for our move to the NHS Confederation is in line with an intention from Q’s beginning that it would become more embedded in the NHS, with a mixed funding model. 

This change in the nature and level of our funding means Q will shift from being supported solely by core partnership grants. We are already building new partnerships and delivering commissioned programmes. We will also raise income from sources that support and align with Q’s purpose and values. 

We will also refresh some of our services due to these changes and reductions to resources. This means a few familiar programmes are not being renewed, such as Q Exchange. We will adapt to reduce costs and provide the community with the most value from our activities.  
 
Our strategic priorities remain the same: 

1. We are committed to building and sustaining our diverse community. 
   
   You’ll continue to see us host events and deliver workshops that share member insights and boost your skills. We are building on our investment in the digital Q community space, boosting support for the community groups. 
    

2. We work to make it easier for you to share, learn and collaborate to address pressing health system challenges.  

   As part of our new partnership model, we’re working with organisations to apply the Q Lab methodology to their system-based work. We will bring those experiences and learning back to the community. 
    

3. We influence the health sector to create the culture and conditions in which improvement efforts succeed.   
   
   For example, through our ongoing work on Quality Management Systems, we’ll continue to provide health care leaders with tools to set clear direction, vision and culture.  
   
   With our ability to draw up insights across this work, and with our new partnerships, we are in a powerful position to share members’ voices about what’s needed to implement major change – like the 10-Year Health Plan for England. 

With Q at the NHS Confederation, we will have even stronger connections to those leading organisations and systems. Evidence shows that system-wide change is only possible when people come together to work holistically. This means sharing ideas and skills across multiple organisations, departments and hierarchies. 

That’s why we are also prioritising inclusion and collaboration in approaching this new phase. 

• We will be broadening our focus to support more people with varied skills and experiences. 
• We will welcome a wide range of change, improvement and transformation approaches. 
• We will be making changes to address barriers to participating in the Q community. 

As Q evolves, the membership community remains at the heart of our work. A diverse community that connects and supports one another across sectors is a powerful asset for health and care. 

To shape our future direction, Q has drawn on insights from evaluations and highly valued member feedback on our services. 

There’s a lot of work to do. Q and the NHS Confederation will be reaching out to hear your insights and shape our next steps over the coming months.  
 
We want to put the needs of the community front and centre as we go through this change and develop. 

Clear information and a data transfer notice will be shared with all Q members before any data is moved. This will include information about what will happen with any data impacted by this change. It will be in line with best practices for the use and processing of data. 

To learn more about our data management you can read the relevant privacy policies and contact the teams below. 

• NHS Confederation privacy policy 
  Email: dataprotection@nhsconfed.org
• Q privacy policy
  Email: q@health.org.uk
• Health Foundation privacy policy
  Email: dpo@health.org.uk   
   

Q’s transfer to NHS Confederation is subject to final formal approvals.