Clinicians are at the heart of the health service and have a vital role in driving improvements in the quality of care. We support the engagement of clinicians in quality improvement by funding projects focused on specific clinical areas identified by clinicians themselves.
We support clinicians to lead multi-disciplinary teams in quality improvement work, build capacity within professional organisations to support their members in this work, and generate evidence about how clinicians can successfully lead quality improvement projects.
Healthcare professionals have a commitment to best practice but do not always know how to introduce changes at an organisational level. We use our knowledge about the challenges facing clinical teams undertaking improvement work to design and provide high-quality leadership development support for them. We provide the opportunities for clinicians to develop their leadership and change management skills, learn about quality improvement methodologies and measurement for quality improvement.
Case studies
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Reducing health inequalities in Tower Hamlets
Tower Hamlets ranks as one of the most deprived communities in the UK. Encompassing all the GP practices in the borough, this project aims to reduce inequalities in how healthcare is delivered and ultimately in the health of the population.
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Quality improvement in chronic kidney disease
Patients with chronic kidney disease cannot remove waste products from their blood and can be prone to anaemia, cardiovascular disease, renal failure and ultimately death. This project aims to help GPs in southwest London and Surrey better identify and manage patients with the condition.
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Developing resources for people with insomnia
Around one in ten people suffer chronic insomnia, which occurs on a regular basis or over a long period of time. This project aims to improve treatment for people with insomnia by promoting a range of treatment options beyond sleeping pills, which carry the risk of side effects and addiction.
Publications
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Engaging clinicians in quality improvement
This update explains our approach to engaging clinicians in quality improvement.
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Necessary measures
All clinicians want to provide patients with the best possible care. However, the only way clinicians can be certain about the quality of care they provide is by measuring what actually happens and comparing this to established best practice.
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The Commonwealth Fund 2006 IHP Survey: Analysis of the UK data
The Commonwealth Fund 2006 International Health Policy Survey of Primary Care Physicians in Seven Countries was conducted between February and August 2006. The Health Foundation funded this expansion of the UK sample.
Current activities
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Closing the Gap through Clinical Communities
Closing the Gap through Clinical Communities awards will aim to improve the quality of care delivered to patients by bridging the gap between known best practice and the routine delivery of care.
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Engaging with Quality Initiative
The Engaging with Quality Initiative aims to help healthcare professionals close the gap between current and best practice across clinical services.
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Engaging with Quality in Primary Care
This scheme is funding nine projects to engage primary care clinicians in quality improvement projects and, by doing so, increase capacity for improvements in clinical quality in primary care in the UK.
Features
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Hate something, change something, make healthcare better
Stephen Thornton, Chief Executive of The Health Foundation, argues that without meaningful information and good clinical measurement we cannot improve healthcare.
Latest news
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LIMBIC featured on IHM website
The Health Foundation’s LIMBIC (Learning to Improve the Management of Back Pain in the Community) project has recently been highlighted on the Institute of Health Management (IHM) website as a ‘team effort’ that ‘pays off’.
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Clinician Scientist Fellow on mission to ‘humanise’ organ donation
The Scotsman has reported how transplant surgeon and Health Foundation Clinician Scientist Fellow Luke Devey is working to drive up rates of organ donation by promoting the ‘human face’ of the transplant service.
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COPD treatment fails quality standards despite five-year improvement
The Royal College of Physicians has reported that NHS services for people with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have improved over the past five years but the quality of services offered varies considerably and often falls short of national quality standards.