South West Academic Health Science Network to lead on growing the Q community

The Health Foundation has announced that South West Academic Health Science Network (SW AHSN) is to be one of three UK localities to pilot the promotion of the Q Initiative in the health and care community.

In June this year the SW AHSN surveyed South West health and care workers to map the extent of quality improvement capability across the region. The mapping exercise revealed a rich legacy of quality improvement capability and a strong need for greater opportunities to connect and collaborate with others.

It is hoped that the SW AHSN’s promotion of Q will build on this existing strength. Q is an initiative connecting people with improvement expertise across the UK. Through Q people are coming together to form a community – sharing ideas, enhancing skills and collaborating on improvement projects.

The SW AHSN has had an active role in the development of the Q initiative since its inception as ‘5,000 Safety Fellows’. After feeding into the initial design, we helped to recruit founding members to the community who helped co-design and test the initiative during 2015.

The Q community is made up of a diverse range of people including those at the front line of health and social care, patient leaders, managers, researchers, policymakers and others.

To ensure the community is grown in a manageable way, and to enable the members to contribute to its evolving shape and design, opportunities to join Q are being phased throughout different parts of the UK.

Opportunities for people in the South West region will be open from November 2016.  Anyone interested in joining is asked to apply and to reflect on their commitment to, knowledge of and experience in collaborative improvement.

For further information, please contact info@swahsn.com.