Quality Improvement Resources
Introduction to QI
We have provided links to a number of useful sites that give a good introduction to Quality Improvement
| Source | Title |
|---|---|
| Royal College of Surgeons of England | RCS and Quality Improvement |
| Royal College of Surgeons of England | Quality improvement in surgery |
| HQIP | e-Learning introduction to quality improvement for healthcare professionals |
| Hughes, RG | Tools and strategies for quality improvement and patient safety |
| Health Foundation | Quality improvement made simple |
| Health Foundation | Improvement collaboratives in healthcare |
| NICE | Putting NICE Guidance into practice |
| NHS Wales | 1000 Lives Improvement |
Tools for QI
A number of organisations provide tools for QI
| Source | Title |
|---|---|
| NHS Improvement | Quality, service improvement and redesign (QSIR) tools by stage of the patient pathway |
| NHS Improvement | Quality, service improvement and redesign (QSIR) tools by type of task |
| Institute for Healthcare Improvement | Quality Improvement Essentials Toolkit |
| HQIP | A guide to quality improvement methods |
| East London NHS Foundation Trust | Quality Improvement Resources |
Process Mapping
| Source | Title |
|---|---|
| BMJ – Trebble et al | Process mapping the patient journey: an introduction |
| NHS Improvement | Conventional Process Mapping |
| NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement | Process mapping, analysis and redesign |
Driver Diagrams
| Source | Title |
|---|---|
| NHS Improvement | Driver Diagrams |
| East London NHS Foundation Trust | Driver Diagrams |
Models for Improvement
| Source | Title |
|---|---|
| NHS Improvement | PDSA cycles and the model for improvement |
| East London NHS Foundation Trust | The model for improvement |
| Institute for Healthcare Improvement | An introduction to the model for Improvement (video) |
| Institute for Healthcare Improvement | Testing Changes |
QI Case Studies
Below is a list of QI case studies. Please contact us if you have any good examples of QI studies for vascular surgery and we can add to this list.
| Source | Title |
|---|---|
| Vascular Society of Great Britain & Ireland | Delivering a National Quality Improvement Programme for Patients with Abdominal Aortic Aneurysms |
| BJS Open | Effectiveness of a quality improvement collaborative in reducing time to surgery for patients requiring emergency cholecystectomy |
| Implementation Science | Understanding the influences on successful quality improvement in emergency general surgery: learning from the RCS Chole-QuIC project |
| Implementation Science | Improving care at scale: process evaluation of a multi-component quality improvement intervention to reduce mortality after emergency abdominal surgery (EPOCH trial) |
| NHS Scotland | QI Case Studies |
| BMJ Open Quality | The utilisation of the MUST nutritional screening tool on vascular surgical wards |
| Northern Vascular Centre, Newcastle Upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust & Ireland | Making surgical wards safer for patients with diabetes: reducing hypoglycaemia and insulin errors |
VSGBI Peripheral Arterial Disease Quality Improvement Framework – 2022 Update
Download QIF – 2022 Update (pdf – 1Mb)The 2018 Getting it Right First Time (GIRFT) Report for Vascular Surgery identified significant pathway delays and poor outcomes for patients presenting with critical limb ischaemia.
GIRFT recommended that The Vascular Society of Great Britain and Ireland developed a Lower Limb Quality Improvement Framework (QIF) to improve rates of revascularisation and reduce amputation rates for these patients.
The Peripheral Arterial Disease QIF (PAD-QIF) was launched by the Vascular Society in April 2019, with the aim reducing the delays in assessment, investigation, and revascularisation in patients with critical limb ischaemia and in turn amputation rates.
VSGBI PAD Quality Improvement Programme
Introduction
The Peripheral Arterial Disease Quality Improvement Programme (PAD QIP) was developed to facilitate the implementation of the PAD Quality Improvement Framework, published by the VSGBI in April 2019. Its aim is to improve the quality of care for patients presenting with critical limb-threatening ischaemia (CLTI) by developing a quality improvement collaborative of healthcare professionals across the UK. The programme utilises quality improvement methods and data submitted in the NVR, in order to shorten the patient pathway from referral to revascularisation and achieve the timelines described in PAD QIF.
Eleven UK NHS vascular units volunteered to participate, supported by the PAD QIP team with webinars, face-to-face meetings and online resources. The PAD QIP team consists of members of the Audit Committee of the VSGBI, the National Vascular Registry and the Clinical Effectiveness Unit of the Royal College of Surgeons of England (RCS).
The launch workshop was held in October 2019 at the Royal College of Surgeons. Participants from the 11 early adopter centres discussed the aim and focus of the intervention, identified common problems and suggested methods for improvement. The material from this meeting has been developed further and the next series of events have been formulated.
The global pandemic of COVID-19 affected the timeline of the project, and activities were modified to allow dissemination of information remotely via webinars, teleconferences and virtual meetings. The 1st PAD QIP webinar was held on 01/05/2020, where further details about the programme and planned activities was discussed.
After two more successful online meetings, the 4th PAD QIP webinar was held on 14th May 2021, marking one year after the first one. The changes in the vascular service for CLTI patients that the early adopter centres have implemented so far are summarised in this document, to serve as examples for other vascular departments in the UK.
Participating Trusts
- Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Gloucestershire & Swindon Vascular Network)
- Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
- Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Liverpool Vascular & Endovascular Service)
- Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust
- North Bristol NHS Trust
- St George’s University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
- The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust (Black Country Vascular Network)
- University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust (Dorset & Wiltshire Vascular Network)
- University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust
- University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust
- University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust
- York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Webinars
Links to the recordings of PAD QIP webinars can be found below:
20/10/2020 – Improving care pathways for chronic limb-threatening ischaemia
For more information please contact:
Panagiota Birmpili, Clinical Research Fellow
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 020 7869 6622