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

One of the biggest professional development problems facing clinical practitioners and a wide number of professionals in the NHS is that they have very little time and limited budgets to invest in taught or self-taught training courses which could augment their evidence-based decision-making abilities.  Our project will address this challenge by creating a series of easily accessible, digitised, bite-sized improvement learning programmes with accompanying practical resources, based on the well-established Engineering Better Care Toolkit developed by the University of Cambridge.

The EBC Toolkit has already been delivered to several healthcare institutions and organisations including the RCP & RCA, the Academy of Medical Sciences as well as two cohorts of QI practitioners in the Q Community, who are now applying these resources in their daily work. Our project aims to go beyond this to provide a digital capability with step-by-step guidance that users can apply instantly anywhere or at any time.

What does your project aim to achieve?

Our objective is to service the QI community and a wider healthcare network through an extensive range of freely available, user-friendly digital resources. This is designed for those seeking ways of addressing new and existing operational challenges and to enhance user understanding of improvement processes.

Using the existing EBC toolkit to:

1.       Provide step-by-step guides and worked examples, in both audio and video formats with captioning, to ensure user accessibility in any situation

2.       Build an online platform which can be accessed via web browser and mobile for use on the move

3.       Provide downloadable resources where individuals and teams can record their work

4.       Create a community forum to enable users to ask both EBC experts and peer-to-peer questions

5.       Collect anonymised data to enable continuous improvement to be made to the user experience & to understand where the greatest need is.

How will the project be delivered?

Delivery will be via the Engineering Better Care Academy (EBCA), applying the EBC Toolkit methodology developed by the University of Cambridge. The five EBCA team members have a proven track record of delivering face-to-face and digital facilitated learning, in healthcare environments.

We will host the resource materials and accompanying video resources on an online digital platform. Qualitative and quantitative data will be collected to identify the value of each tool and to develop our process of continuous improvement for people, systems, design and risk.

Throughout the project we will collect measurable data and feedback from users, to increase value and reduce costs to healthcare systems. We aim to achieve this through access and application of the free at the point-of-use digital tools, enabling users to benefit from time-saving decision-making processes.

We will minimise risk to users through an online FAQ and access to team members for advice during working hours.

How is your project going to share learning?

Our purpose is to create a digital community where people can share feedback, ideas and outcomes to generate wider use of the toolkit and increased value to healthcare settings. Our platform will provide helpful guides and case studies to increase learning and encourage adoption of the tools. We aim to generate discussion of quality implementation, problem definition and solution creation as well as managing sustainable outcomes and making a case for change.

Equality, diversity and inclusion lies at the core of our values and we will actively publicise the training through established social media networks to an extensive range of organisations including Healthcare Accelerators, NHS Leadership Academy and HEE.

The learning outcomes from this project will be used to improve the service itself and inform development of the EBC Toolkit.