Working to improve health and social care
A joint venture dedicated to quality improvement in health and social care launched last Thursday (August 23) in Inverness.
The Highlands and Islands Improvement Institute (HI3) is a joint venture between NHS Highland and the University of the Highlands and Islands which provides training allowing quality improvement across the NHS benefiting communities, patients and their families.
Professor Hugo van Woerden, director of public health and policy for NHS Highland, is part of the operational management team behind the development of the institute.
He said: ‘There is increasing interest across the world in innovative approaches to improving quality and reducing waste, harm and variation in the public and private sector.
‘There is an urgent need to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of health and social care services to ensure they meet current and predicted future needs of the population. This programme will give those taking part the opportunity to learn quality improvement methods and approaches by combining practical application with a deep theoretical understanding that can be applied to a wide range of health and social care contexts.’
Using several quality improvement methods, including Model for Improvement, Lead and Patient Safety approaches, the course includes an emphasis on the critical analysis of improvement methods and the use of quality improvement tools and techniques to address waste, harm and variation in the health and social care system.
Delivered online and parttime, the course is open to a wide range of individuals including nurses, doctors, allied health professionals, care workers, health care scientists, health care managers and administrators and estates staff.
It is also suitable for people working in health and social care settings in charities or the independent sector, who have an interest in, or responsibility for, quality improvement.
Professor van Woerden added: ‘This is about developing opportunities in quality improvement and with almost 100 people attending this week’s launch, it demonstrates the enthusiasm there is locally for this initiative.
‘Our aim is to create a centre of excellence with an international profile in quality improvement, improvement science and innovation through practice, education and research.’