Join Q
Find out if Q is right for you, and how to join.
Q welcomes people with improvement experience from all backgrounds and settings. Members benefit in a variety of ways from the wide range of opportunities available. Apply by completing a form outlining your experience and why you want to join.
Q is a community of people working to improve health and care services across the UK and Ireland.
Join for free to connect, share and learn with a network of thousands of people with diverse experience and wide-ranging skills. Have access to learning resources, funding opportunities and events.
Get help with your improvement challenges and help others solve theirs, making real change to improve health and care for all.
Is Q right for me?
Q could be a good fit if you have some advanced improvement experience and you’re keen to work with others to raise the quality of health and care.
This means people who have:
- built an understanding of some structured approaches to improvement, from personal or professional experience
- played a significant role in the design, leadership, delivery or support of improvement efforts that have spanned more than one team.
Our decision tree may help you to reflect on your experience and decide if Q is the right community for you.
The community thrives from diverse points of view. As well as people working in formal improvement roles, we welcome anyone with relevant experience, such as:
- health professionals
- people with lived experience of health and care services (patients and patient representatives)
- researchers
- NHS leaders
- analysts
What Q members share is a passion and commitment to improve health and care for all.
Q has been integral to my development. It has opened my eyes and my heart to a group of individuals who are spread across the country, all with the same aspiration and passion and belief.
Who’s in the community?
Q has over 5,000 members across the UK and Ireland in a wide variety of roles.
Around half of Q members are based in NHS Trusts. Others are involved with different kinds of organisations in the health and care sector and beyond.
It’s a really fantastic community. There’s so much on offer. I’ve gained friends, I’ve gained knowledge, it’s a great place to be.
It’s good to feel part of a wide network of people who are looking for all sorts of different ways to improve health care.
How it works
Q is free to join and you don’t have to sign up to any kind of time commitment.
What Q offers
As a member of the Q community, you’ll be encouraged to access our range of activities to help you create real change.
- Opportunities to connect with people from different disciplines and sectors with relevant experience, online and in person.
- Support to share and learn about each other’s improvement experience and challenges.
- The chance to participate in a wide range of events throughout the year, including webinars and visits to see improvement work in practice.
- An ever-expanding library of improvement insight, inspiration and practical tools.
- Funding to power your improvement efforts and development.
The Q community gave me my network of other QI people, access to learning through webinars and a chance to go on some amazing Q Visits.
How you benefit
Members say the benefits of playing an active part in the Q community are wide-ranging.
- Widen your network and connect with people working on shared challenges and opportunities.
- Develop your improvement skills and knowledge and help to develop others.
- Solve practical problems by tapping into Q’s community and resources.
- Get inspired and energised by being part of a community with a shared vision.
- Enjoy flexible access and support, designed for busy people.
- Feel great about making a bigger impact and leading positive change.
I get so much more out of it than I ever thought I would. Go for it and the doors of opportunity will open.
Our shared charter
Our charter sets out what members can expect of Q and vice versa. It states how the community behaves and outlines the ways in which Q works with members.
How to join
To join, we ask you to complete an online application form to reflect on your knowledge of and commitment to improving health and care.
You don’t have to complete it one go and there is no application deadline. You can save the form at any time and come back to it later.
All applications are reviewed by Q members from a range of different backgrounds. You’ll be notified within six weeks whether your application has been successful or unsuccessful. We’ll provide feedback if your application doesn’t quite meet the criteria.
Criteria
In the application, we ask you to reflect on your:
- experience and knowledge: what is your experience of using structured approaches to enable improvement?
- commitment: why do you want to join Q?
Membership is open to people with advanced experience in using any of the many structured methods and approaches designed to improve things.
In the application we will ask you to:
- Draw on any kind of experience you have whether it’s voluntary or paid, in the health system or beyond.
- Describe how you have contributed to improvement initiatives. This could be a direct role in one or more projects, or indirectly by developing an environment that makes it easier for this sort of work to succeed. For instance, by developing strategy or policy or by embedding a learning culture.
- Share your experience of work involving more than one team. This demonstrates experience of sharing information and collaborating with people from different backgrounds.
- Describe the outcome of your work and reflect on what you have learnt.
We are looking for people who have thought about what it could mean to be involved in Q. A good way to demonstrate this is to share what you understand about Q and things you might choose to participate in.
Collaboration is at the heart of Q, so please share what you feel you can bring to the community as well as what you hope to get from it.
How will joining the community support things that you are doing that may ultimately contribute to improving health and care?
Any questions?
If you’re still not sure whether to apply, or would like to discuss your application, please contact us.
Discover more
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