The spread challenge: could Buurtzorg work in Britain?

One of our most popular and active events this spring was a webinar on the Buurtzorg model of place-based autonomous teams titled “Could Buurtzorg work in Britain?” hosted by the Reimagining Health and Care Special Interest Group (SIG). Sixty two people from across the UK healthcare system, and beyond, joined to explore what would it take to replicate the success of Buurtzorg’s pioneering person-centred approach in other European countries, and what might get in the way, drawing on the final report of the European Union’s Interreg 2Seas programme.

Their four year project researched what it involves to take a successful innovation in one country and apply it in others and produced a detailed report on the application of the Buurtzorg model – finding around 250 barriers to it spread, but also ways to overcome them.

Brendan Martin, Managing Director Public World and Buurtzorg Britain & Ireland, also spoke at the event and commented afterwards:

“…Buurtzorg’s success is not a question of copying what it has done but of starting with the same clarity of purpose as its founders did and following its logic from the core relationships at the heart of care to the organisational arrangements to support them. Or, as Buurtzorg’s founder Jos de Blok has put it: “We started working with different countries and discovered that the problems are the same: the message every time is to start again from the patient perspective and simplify the systems.”

Watch the recording of the event

New SIGs and upcoming events

Clean Language for end of life care is a special interest group for people learning to use Clean Language in relation to palliative care and end of life. Clean Language is a new way of thinking about how people’s minds actually work, which makes use of a set of 12 questions designed to prevent our prior assumptions from blocking clear communication. For those of us new to the method, Saskie Dorman, convener of the group, has shared a helpful link that’s worth checking out: Six baby steps to start using Clean Language. The SIG will also be hosting a half-day Open Space event on September 20th at 9:30am – 12:50pm for both experienced practitioners and those curious to learn more. Register your place.

My Q Community Conveners team colleague, Joriam Ramos has launched a Videos & Podcasts SIG to explore Health & Care-focused content creation. Watch the intro video and join this SIG if you’d like to learn the basics: how to record, script, edit and post videos and podcasts, in the company of other enthusiastic learners. The first training session is happening on Wednesday September 13th at 12-1pm. Sign up to come along.

Q Perioperative Care-Prehabilitation SIG is hosted by Macmillan Cancer Support and the Centre for Perioperative Care (CPOC), a partnership between health charities, professional organisations, patient organisations and several leading Royal Colleges. The SIG will bring members together to learn and share best practice, debate hot topics, enable Shared Decision Making (SDM) between patients, family and healthcare professionals and much more.

More inspiration from our groups

We had our biggest call of 2023 so far with 407 attendees, hosted by Clinical Audit in Quality Improvement SIG. It was a rich discussion on the purpose of clinical audit when compared with the key principles of a quality improvement approach. Watch the recording.

After a year of community experimentation and research, the Nurturing and Weaving Networks SIG launched their Network Weaving Toolkit. The kit is compiled of three parts: The Curiosity Poster, The Toolkit Booklet and The Reflective Workbook. Check out the toolkit and watch the launch event.

Julia Wood, convener of Improving Joy in Work SIG, and John Rouse have initiated a Joy in Work Community of Practice (CoP) and there is still time to join and be a part of shaping the framework and purpose of the CoP. The second event is happening 12.00, 13 October. Register to take part.

The Coaching Improvement SIG had its first event in a co-created emerging series on QI coaching. The group explored shared challenges around QI coaching with a view to run targeted sessions over the coming months in response to these challenges. Read a summary of the session and join the Coaching Improvement SIG to stay up-to-date with upcoming events.

The first Culture of Continuous Improvement SIG event, exploring Quality Management Systems, also saw some enthusiasm for a future session around QMS learning explicitly between the five nations’ different approaches. An opportunity to learn from each other.

And finally, it’s always great to hear about the value Q members get from attending SIG events. Lisa Bellamy took to twitter to share (screenshot below) how she felt after joining a call on ‘recharging your batteries’ with the Staff Wellbeing and Quality Health Care SIG.

@MatthewMezey on exactly that #MeantToBe. Swimming this AM to get those energy levels topped up. Great session, thank you!" width="360" height="401" />

More upcoming events

Liberating Structures user group meet-ups for the coming months are now up on the website. Find them in the calendar and register to come along. In the meet-up on 7 September at noon, Hilda Campbell and Afra Kelsall will guide us through ‘Heard, Seen, Respected’ (HRS). Come prepared to share a work related situation or experience in which you did not feel heard, seen or respected and practice deeper listening and empathy with colleagues and fellow Q members. Sign up.

Third Sector and Nurturing and Weaving Networks SIGs are co-hosting a conversation on how we can nurture networks across and between sectors. Happening on September 19th at 12-1pm. Register your place.

Join the Community Hospitals SIG at 19.00, 6 September for hear from Dr Christine Burt – PhD, M MedSci, BSc, Director of Research and Innovation, Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust. She will share some of the innovations in community hospitals during the pandemic, and the system impact of embedding improvements in quality and safety. Register now.

Bethan Phillips and Sarah Churchill of Social Finance are hosting their first conversation on the value of death and how we can reimagine death and dying, inviting the Q community to bring their experience, ideas, and concerns to an interactive conversation. Taking place on 28 September at 12.00 -13:30, register to join. A Value of Death SIG is coming soon.

And lastly, keep an eye out for our upcoming series exploring how to build and lead effective networks and communities. We’ll be taking a deep dive into different approaches through four workshops. We look forward to sharing this with you in the next couple of weeks.

We hope to see you at an event soon!