Q membership demographics
Q is a community of thousands of people across the UK and Ireland. But who are Q members, where do they work and what do they do?
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The Q community is made up of over 5,400 people, and rising, working to improve the safety and quality of health and care across the UK and Ireland. Members represent a wide range of professionals working in a variety of organisations and roles. A key goal is to increase the diversity of membership as the community expands.
Q began in 2015 with 231 founding members. By the end of 2023, our community had grown to over 5,400.
Membership expanded rapidly between 2017 and 2020, but since 2020 and the COVID-19 pandemic, our growth has slowed. We think that this is due to a combination of the pressures in the system and our focus shifting from recruitment to supporting members.
With a renewed focus on recruitment, we expect to have 10,000 members by March 2030.
Where are our members based?
Q’s membership has good representation from every part of the UK and Ireland. The charts below show the geographical spread of Q’s members, and how this has changed over time.
Where do our members work?
Q members work in a wide range of organisations, with the largest proportion based in NHS Trusts.
Most of our members work in either health or social care, and nearly one-third of members work across both sectors.
What jobs do our members do?
Q members have a range of backgrounds and roles in their organisations. 45% percent of all Q members have a clinical background, although only 29% are currently in clinical roles.
Over 2,500 members are either in management roles, or roles dedicated to Quality Improvement.
The diversity across Q is indicated by the number of members choosing ‘other’ when applying to become a member. This could range from patient and service user representatives to individuals whose experience spans multiple role types.
How diverse is our membership?
We want the Q community to fully represent the diversity of the UK and Ireland, and our health and care workforce.
We know there are currently areas for improvement. We want to grow the diversity of the community and are committed to creating conditions where diverse experiences are represented and where everyone is valued, respected and empowered.
Discover more
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The Q team
1 minute readFind out more about the people helping to deliver Q. -
Our shared charter
2 minute readCo-designed by members of the community, the shared charter is a set of expectations for Q and its members. It is the agreement of ‘how we do things round here’.