What is the challenge your project is going to address and how does it connect to your chosen theme?

The Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital ( NNUH) is part of the In Good Health – The Norfolk and Waveney Health and Care Partnership . Our partnership  is a big and complex system includes local GP practices, 3 Acute hospitals, community care, social services and mental health teams, and together we provide services to more than a million people.

We are working to make patient care better in different ways – This means improving individual services and also making the whole health and care ‘system’ work better. Our three main hospitals in Norfolk are working closer together to improve the care services including joining-up the teams who provide some of our specialist services at our hospitals in order to improve the care patients receive.

In addition to the challenge to transform clinical services across a large and complex system we have a vision to create a system wide approach for embedding Quality Improvement methodology  as advocated in Developing People Improving Care.

What does your project aim to achieve?

The aim of the Norfolk Improvement Academy is to provide an inclusive not exclusive  cohort of Improvers including front line Clinicians ,Managers, Executives, Academics and  Patient Leaders from across the local health economy to:-

• Build a collaborative environment in which improvement can flourish and grow
• Create a critical mass of experience in quality and safety improvement methods across the local health economy
• Share learning and expertise about how we can provide better care
• Speed up the spread and adoption of best practice between our local health and care  organisations
• Collaborate with leading academics to develop  innovative approaches to quality and safety improvement
• To implement a virtual platform to enable teams to collaborate on joint projects and evidence improvements using agreed methodology
• To hold local annual event to share learning and celebrate success across the partnership.

How will the project be delivered?

• Engagement events with the partnership stakeholders, service users , staff and Q Community and academic partners
• System wide governance  and monitoring processes using established mechanisms such as STP Oversight group, Trust Board reporting frameworks.
• We will mitigate the risk of lack of engagement from partners by ensuring that we can show how this project contributes to the delivery of the partners’ corporate objectives and vision.
• Communication strategy that promotes  the message that Quality is not an isolated activity, and ensure that this project is linked to a number of system wide frameworks and initiatives

What and how is your project going to share learning throughout?

• Facilitated innovative face-to-face and online events – regular webinars on relevant topics, annual conferences and masterclasses.
• Produce a quarterly system wide  ‘Sharing the Learning ‘ e -bulletin to celebrate improvement.
• Implement a local QI platform to allow staff  to collaborate and communicate regardless of care setting and location.
• An annual STP wide Quality and Safety event to promote learning, build relationships and celebrate success across the system
• Utilise and promote social media to promote cross sector working,  collaborative ‘peer support’  and virtual networking
• Continue to build our local Q Community and promote the resources available through the national Q offer.