Quality Coach Development Programme: launch of materials

This webinar showcased high-quality training resources for organisations and systems to adopt in support of developing Quality Coaches locally - at no additional cost.

28 Sep 2023
15:00 – 16:30

Overview

The special launch event saw the co-designers of the Quality Coach Development Programme introduce the product.

The session covered:

  • An overview of the programme as a whole, including how and why we created this content
  • A taster of the resources
  • A panel discussion and Q&A with some of the co-designers
  • Information on a “train-the-trainer” programme
  • The context – why have we created this programme?

For many health and care providers the broad improvement ambition is simple; everyone who is involved in care delivery (staff, patients and the public) is aiming to improve services every day. By empowering people at all levels of an organisation, we can address complex and systemic issues. The ambition of everyone improving all the time is laudable; however the reality of all healthcare professionals embodying continuous improvement principles brings about clear challenges. Primarily, how does everyone receive the support they need to improve services?

In many healthcare organisations, staff are currently only able to seek QI support through a centralised improvement team (or similar). Whilst this is reasonable for organisations with small-to-medium levels of QI activity, it may not be a sustainable model in the longer term. Organisations may not be able to justify employing a growing number of improvement specialists in a centralised team in order to support bottom-up improvement work; instead, new approaches need to be sought.

One approach that has been shown to work in NHS organisations is to train a network of frontline staff in the more advanced concepts of improvement and the human side of change, as well as coaching techniques – i.e. training them to become Quality Coaches. The approach has been advocated for by the NHS and its advisers for several years. Quality Coaches play a pivotal role in supporting improvement within health organisations and across health systems. In their role, they have protected time to support services and colleagues with the planning, implementation, and evaluation of QI work. Through the Quality Coach role, improvement support is distributed throughout the system, as opposed to being in a centralised function. More advanced and specialist support, general training and strategic improvement work is then the main provision of the central QI team/function.

The Quality Coach Development Programme

The aim of the Quality Coach Development Programme is to build improvement capability and capacity by training staff in the essential skills and knowledge needed to successfully coach teams and individuals through QI work. The programme has been designed and developed by a dedicated group of national subject matter experts from across the QI community in the UK and Ireland between Autumn 2019 and August 2023.

We have created a suite of training resources for organisations/systems to adopt in support of developing Quality Coaches locally. Together these resources form a high-quality educational programme that will enable organisations to train their own Quality Coaches at no additional cost.

The materials include:

  • Engaging slides and activities
  • A comprehensive and well researched participant handbook
  • A guide on how to lead and deliver the programme
  • A guide on delivering the sessions and content
  • An evaluation guide
  • A guide for prospective applicants

The content and programme structure have been created to encourage local adaptation. We want you to bring your own expertise, coaching experiences, and personality to the programme. Moreover, we want to avoid duplication of content or confusion (e.g. if a topic doesn’t fit your organisational approach or you lack the internal expertise to deliver part of the programme), you should adapt based on this. As improvers we often respond to new policy, emergent issues, and priorities (PSIRF, Quality Management System and NHS impact being a few examples). The programme should be used in tandem with your organisational approaches to these issues and other emergent topics in the future.

With sufficient local support for QI through the development of Quality Coaches, we can continue to ensure that staff are empowered and supported to implement their ideas for improvement across the United Kingdom and Ireland. We hope that you consider adopting this programme for your organisation and look forward to meeting you at the webinar!

Session timings

3.00 – 3.20 Welcome to the Quality Coach Development Programme!

3.20 – 3.50 Exploring the programme content in more detail

3.50 – 4.20 Q&A with members of the co-design group

4.20 – 4.30 Get involved and the train-the-trainer programme

Watch the recording

The co-designers, and speakers, at this event include: Sid Beech (QI Training Lead at CLCH), Jem Ramazanoglu (Head of QI at CLCH), Robin Davis (Director, NHS Elect), Bridget Browne (Improvement Advisor at CNWL), Hannah Pearson (Improvement Facilitator at CLCH) and Jen Cotter (ACP Lead at CLCH).

Funding acknowledgement

The programme has been partially funded and supported by the Q Exchange programme, hosted by the Q Community and the Health Foundation. Further funding and oversight in the development of this programme has been provided by Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust.