Hi everyone,

If you’ve not yet seen, last week the Q Lab and Mind published two new practical outputs on improving care across mental health and persistent back and neck pain services. Building on the challenges and opportunities outlined in essays earlier this year (https://qlabessays.health.org.uk/essay/challenges-and-opportunities-to-improve), the new outputs go one step further and aim to tackle some of these issues head-on with practical ideas and solutions.

What we’ve published:
1. Practical ideas for improving care: An interactive guide to support practitioners to improve services with people living with both mental health problems and persistent back and neck pain https://qlabessays.health.org.uk/essay/ideas-and-solutions-to-improve-care

2. Service principles: A set of principles that describe what matters to people living with both conditions, which can be used in practice to inform decisions about improving, designing or commissioning services https://qlabessays.health.org.uk/essay/what-matters-to-me-service-principles-for-providing-care

These outputs are a result of 12 months of collaborative work with Lab participants (inc Q members) and the five teams developing and testing ideas in their local contexts. So a huge thank you to everyone who contributed and collaborated this year!

Using and sharing the outputs:
• Download and use the outputs: Both the guide and the principles have been designed to help you apply the wealth of learning from this project in practice and to inform your improvement work.

• Help share with your colleagues and networks: Do you know others who want to improve care across mental health and physical health? The outputs are accessible to a range of people affected by this challenge. Download the comms pack for suggested tweets and text, and help us spread the word https://q.health.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/Communications_pack_Q_and_LPs.pdf

Have any thoughts, reflections or feedback? Post your comments here to discuss with others in the group.

Best wishes,
The Q Lab team