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Q Lab

Q Lab gives people the time and space to work and innovate collaboratively on complex shared challenges in health and care.

Q Labs are innovation labs tackling knotty problems in health and care services. They support participants to creatively design solutions, enabling them to experiment and learn in a safe space, and giving them the skills to implement ideas in practice. 

What is Q Lab?

Q Lab brings people together to work on complex shared problems facing the health and care system. 

Together, over 9 to 12 months or more, we pool what is known about the topic, uncover new insights and develop and test ideas. 

We provide grant funding for a small number of test teams from health care settings to participate in the Q Lab and test the implementation of their ideas in practice. 

Each Q Lab aims to: 

  • build a deep and rounded understanding of the issue
  • generate and test ideas for improvement
  • develop participants’ skills and capabilities to translate the ideas into action
  • share the learning widely.

Q Lab is an innovation lab. In January 2024, we published a rapid evidence review on the effectiveness of innovation labs for health and care improvement. 

How Q Lab works

The Lab brings together multiple perspectives and then draws on the best available evidence, data and learning to generate a rounded understanding of the issue. We use that understanding to develop ideas, learn new skills and build momentum for change.

Tracy Webb, Q member

Q Lab tailors the timeline, structure and methods to each individual project, but every Q Lab follows the same overarching four-step process:

  1. Bringing a mix of people together around a shared topic.
  2. Giving teams the time, tools and support to creatively design solutions.
  3. Providing spaces to explore and reflect on the topic and solutions in depth.
  4. Distilling and sharing insights to enable change. 
The four-step approach all Q Labs adopt as they work to tackle the challenge in question. 

What topics does Q Lab cover?

Q Lab identifies topics that are high-priority areas, but also where Q Lab can make progress over a set amount of time. Identifying the lab topics is a collaborative process. We engage with members and our partners to select and refine the topic, taking into account the opportunities in the space and whether it’s of interest and importance for the sector. 

The first four Q Labs worked on the following topics.

Who can take part?

Anyone with relevant experience and expertise can apply to take part in a Q Lab. You do not have to be a Q member.

Once we identify a topic, we share the opportunity and criteria for teams who are tackling a relevant challenge to apply to join the Q Lab as a test team. These teams then have an opportunity to apply for Q funding to implement the resulting innovations in practice. 

We also work in partnership with organisations who bring expertise and are best placed to take forward ideas and insights that emerge from the process.

Discover more

  • How can we work together to reduce waiting times for elective care? Q Lab helped five health care teams to tackle the challenge in new ways. 
  • How can we build staff and patient trust and confidence in tech-enabled remote monitoring? Q Lab worked with the NHS to explore sustainable models to be scaled across the health and care system. 
The Health Foundation

Q is led by the Health Foundation and supported by partners across the UK and Ireland

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© 2024 The Health Foundation
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