1) Tell us a little about yourself and your improvement journey.

My name is Jana, and I am passionate about using patient feedback and data insights to improve health and care. I firmly believe that, by working together, clinical teams, data experts and patients can design and deliver healthcare services that are effective, holistic, safe, and person-centred.

I currently work as the Clinical Quality Improvement Manager at the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, a charity in the UK that aims to improve the lives of everyone affected by cystic fibrosis. My role focuses on supporting CF clinical teams across all four UK nations to collect and explore data on patient experiences, as well as staffing levels and some key outcomes, to help them evidence existing best practices and identify challenges and areas for improvement. My team also works with clinical teams to support them in translating data insights into QI projects and impact for people with CF, which I am passionate about, as I understand that there is limited capacity to plan QI in many clinical teams.

My improvement journey has not been what you might call a ‘traditional’ one. I have never worked clinically, but I have often worked alongside clinicians and patients to collect and explore data to use the insights generated to improve care. My first experience of quality improvement was during my post-doc at King’s College London, where I led an initiative to implement patient-/carer-reported outcome and experience measures in palliative care hospitals, community and hospice services in South London – and later rolled this out more widely across the UK in collaboration with Hospice UK. Seeing the value that bespoke data feedback could bring to clinical teams, both in terms of motivation and as a driver of positive change, really inspired me.

A few years later, I was lucky enough to manage two cycles of the National Cancer Diagnosis Audit at Cancer Research UK, a huge collaborative project seeking to understand cancer diagnosis in primary care better. It offered participating GP surgeries across the UK an opportunity to review their data in context, highlight best practices and identify local challenges in diagnosing cancer early. Working with a team of researchers and facilitators, we gathered and analysed data on thousands of cancer diagnoses and provided bespoke feedback reports to GP practices to drive improvements.

I love working with various clinical teams across the UK that face different challenges. Working in QI in the charity sector offers opportunities to see and hear many different perspectives and to facilitate learning between clinical teams that might be located in entirely different parts of the country.

Working in QI in the charity sector offers opportunities to see and hear many different perspectives and to facilitate learning between clinical teams that might be located in entirely different parts of the country.

2) What first attracted you to Q?

While I work closely with clinicians and patients, being external to the NHS brings unique challenges (and opportunities). Working in QI in the third sector can feel a little lonely at times. There aren’t many charities with staff dedicated to supporting quality improvement in healthcare. Q looked like a wonderful network of like-minded people working in the NHS and other organisations I could connect with and learn from, which motivated me to apply.

3) What are you hoping to get out of Q?

I am keen to connect with others who are passionate about improving the safety and quality of healthcare within the NHS and beyond, and I’m hoping to get some inspirational ideas and potentially identify opportunities for collaborative projects with fellow Q community members in future. I also look forward to sharing my views and insights from the QI work I have done and still do and hearing others’ feedback.