Opinion pieces
Diverse views and commentary from Q, community members and across the health and care improvement landscape.
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What the NHS staff survey tells us about the state of improvement in England
25 September 2025 5 minute readWith fieldwork for the 2025 NHS staff survey set to begin, we reflect on the results of the 2024 survey and what we can learn about staff engagement – and its consequences for improvement.
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Bryan Jones
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Penny Pereira
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Nicola Burgess
Topics- Improvement and innovation
- Improvement capability
- Improvement culture
- Improvement research and evaluation
- Spread and adoption
- Leadership and management
- Leadership
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How stakeholder and journey mapping can help you understand complex challenges
24 October 2024 6 minute readRead about how Q Labs explore complexity and challenges in health care at system level using stakeholder and journey mapping.
Topics- Improvement and innovation
- Collaboration
- Complexity
- Improvement research and evaluation
- Innovation
- Patient and public involvement
- Systems change
- Leadership and management
- Workforce and people
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Understanding and increasing our impact: an update on the evaluation of Q
23 August 2024 3 minute readMatthew Hill, Head of Insight, Evaluation and Research, gives an update on the independent evaluation of Q.
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Matt Hill
Topics- Improvement and innovation
- Improvement research and evaluation
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Lessons in hiking: the ups and downs of making change
19 June 2024 5 minute readQ member, Guddi Singh offers three approaches for keeping perspective while engaged in the change journey.
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Guddi Singh
Topics- Improvement and innovation
- Collaboration
- Complexity
- Improvement culture
- Improvement research and evaluation
- Systems change
- Leadership and management
- Leadership
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Keeping scepticism alive in health care improvement
28 March 2024 6 minute readExplore the role that philosophy can play in upholding an active culture of scepticism in health care improvement.
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Polly Mitchell
Topics- Improvement and innovation
- Complexity
- Improvement culture
- Improvement research and evaluation
- Patient and public involvement
- Leadership and management
- Policy and regulation
- Workforce and people
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Social innovation labs: strengthening health and care improvement
30 January 2024 5 minute readThemes and insights from our recent evidence review of social innovation labs and their impact within complex systems.
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Libby Keck
Topics- Improvement and innovation
- Collaboration
- Complexity
- Improvement research and evaluation
- Innovation
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Learning from Q Lab: Slowing down to move forward?
10 January 2024 4 minute readLearn how organisations collaborating to reduce delays are approaching improvement in these reflections from our Q Lab workshop.
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Sarah Rae
Topics- Improvement and innovation
- Improvement research and evaluation
- Quality of care
- Person-centred care
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Clean Language in health care cuts to the chase
4 December 2023 4 minute readHow using Clean Language questions in health and care reveals what really matters.
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Judy Rees
Topics- Improvement and innovation
- Improvement research and evaluation
- Quality of care
- Patient experience
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Redefining who and what counts when it comes to health improvement
7 November 2023 5 minute readHelp us consider who else might benefit from joining Q’s health and care improvement community and learn about the strategic case for improvement.
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Penny Pereira
Topics- Improvement and innovation
- Collaboration
- Improvement culture
- Improvement research and evaluation
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Using QI to improve joy in work
31 August 2023 6 minute readJulia Wood reflects on the Joy in Work Special Interest Group which looks at how to use QI tools to bring more enjoyment to the work day.
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Julia Wood
Topics- Improvement and innovation
- Improvement research and evaluation
- Leadership and management
- Workforce and people
- Quality of care
- Patient safety
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