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Rapid learning and improvement during COVID-19: workshop #5 write-up

Catch up on the fifth in our series of practical workshops featuring an overview Q member experiences and learning during COVID, and how Q can continue to support your work.

Rapid innovation and learning have been at the heart of our immediate response to coronavirus (COVID-19). We have been hosting a series of workshops to support Q members and others to develop how they capture the learning and innovations that are taking place.

This is a write-up from our final workshop in the series. The workshop supported participants to draw out their main points of learning from the pandemic so far. We focussed on learning that may help to manage any potential future waves of COVID-19, as well as learning that will support the health and care system to recover and improve after this experience.

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Q member experiences and learning during COVID

We began the session asking participants to share how they are feeling about the future. Responses were collected using Sli.do.

We then heard from Q members Hesham Abdalla  and Jo Murray, about their experiences and learning during COVID-19.

Hesham is a Consultant paediatrician and Clinical lead for Quality Improvement in Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust. He discussed the development of the evaluation framework and the COVID Reflection Summit in Walsall.

“This was a highlight for me in terms of our understanding of COVID and having a large number of staff come together and have really productive conversations, understanding different perspectives but also expressing their hopes, desires and fears for the future.”

Hesham also spoke about the changes in command and control, the feeling of fraternity within his organisation, and learning from failure during COVID.

Jo is Patient Safety Programme Manager at Oxford AHSN. She spoke about learning the art of what’s possible through new ways of working, being mindful of where people are on the ‘corona-coaster of emotions’, and the loss of patient voice during this time, which needs to be addressed.

More detail from the Q&A can be read in the full write up of the session.

Workshop discussions

Participants were then divided into small breakout groups. We used a Liberating Structures method called a Conversation Café to enable people to listen to one another’s thoughts and reflect on a shared question together:

What is your biggest learning from the pandemic, and how are you applying this now and in the future?

We asked attendees to share what they were taking away from the breakout group discussions.

Key themes included:

  • Including patient voices more consistently and meaningfully.
  • Using Liberating structures in their work going forwards.
  • The importance of reflection and learning, and learning from failure.
  • Making use of the Q Community and other valuable networks.
  • The importance of care and kindness over the last few months.

More detail on the themes can be read in the full write up of the session.

Looking ahead

In the final session we looked at what’s coming up in Q that will build on this workshop series:

  1. Apply for funding through Q Exchange from Tuesday 1 September. This year’s theme is embedding positive changes emerging through new collaborations or partnerships during COVID-19.
  2. Build our collective insight about improvement expertise and COVID.
  3. Attend our first virtual Q community event Wednesday 18 – Thursday 19 November.
  4. Join Q. If you’re not already a member, Joining Q will enable you to connect, share and learn with people from different disciplines and sectors, from across the UK.
  5. Look out for more learning and insights from this workshop series.

Download the full write up to find out more about what was shared and discussed.