Waiting Less and Waiting Well teams share their wins

30 July 2024

Our Waiting Less and Waiting Well Quality Improvement (QI) collaborative marked the half-way point of the two-year programme on Thursday 18 July, with staff from across the participating teams meeting for their fourth learning session.

What is the Waiting Less and Waiting Well QI collaborative?

The Waiting Less and Waiting Well QI collaborative is made up of a number of teams at SHSC with long waits for service users to be seen. The collaborative uses QI methods to explore: 

  • ways in which waiting times can be reduced for service users.
  • ways in which more support can be provided to service users while they wait to be seen.

The teams taking part in the Waiting Less and Waiting Well QI collaborative are:

Richard Bulmer, head of service for acute and community, opened the morning with some reflective comments. He praised the teams’ commitment to continuous improvement throughout the programme so far, particularly amidst conflicting pressures.

Teams then presented on their QI projects and progress to date.

Charlotte Hawkes, an occupational therapist who works in the Neurological Enablement Service (NES) presented the results of their team's project, which has so far resulted in a significant reduction in the average waiting times for many service users.

Case study: Neurological Enablement Service (NES) works with Quality Improvement Team to cut waiting times

The Neurological Enablement Service (NES) is a community team of multidisciplinary therapists who aspire to offer evidence-based, effective, efficient and patient-centred care, working with people managing the impact of their long term neurological condition.

As part of the Waiting Less and Waiting Well collaborative with our Quality Improvement (QI) team, the service has been working to reduce the time from referral to contact with a clinician (establishing need, priority, identifying initial goals and signposting to either alternative services or support whilst they wait).

Over the last year NES has reduced the median average wait between referral and clinical contact from 50 days to just 13.

You all did so much to make our lives easier over these recent difficult months. Please thank the team. We enjoyed your company on this hard journey and much appreciated your various expertise and seeing your satisfaction with your jobs. Amidst the sadness and difficulties we were very grateful for all your help and support - carer feedback (anonymised)

Jo Sessions, clinical psychologist presented an update of the work taking place within the Specialist Psychotherapy Service. This is focused on establishing contracts between service users and clinicians when starting therapy.

Coproduction has been a key theme throughout the collaborative. Ellie Wildbore, lived experience research ambassador presented on SHSC’s Lived Experience Research Partnership (LERP). The LERP is part of the research and evidence hub. The LERP supports people with lived experience who have an interest in research, to coproduce research with SHSC services.

Ellie highlighted the benefits of working with the LERP, including the positive results of the latest Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) training and implementation, and also highlighted the positive impact the LERP has for its members. 

PROMs are short rating scales completed by service users to support therapeutic conversations and care planning. PROMs are completed periodically to track changes in somebody's health and wellbeing over time.

Feedback from service users who worked with LERP included:

  • “I believe that being given a chance to contribute again has been the most single valuable part of my recovery journey.”
  • “It’s given me a purpose, structure and possibly a career.”

The morning ended with discussions about the importance of measurement in QI, and how data tells the story of a project.

Neil Robertson, sponsor for the collaborative and director of operations and transformation said: “I am proud to see the commitment and dedication of the collaborative teams in delivering on important improvements in their services. Their work provides excellent examples of putting service users at the centre of everything we do in relation to improving the experience of both those waiting for and receiving care within SHSC services.”