Welcome to the Improvement Foundation

The Improvement Foundation leads the field in service improvement work across the public sector in the UK and overseas.

We work in partnership with frontline staff and service users to deliver large-scale improvements in health, education and service outcomes, and provide leadership and quality improvement skills training.

We work closely with the Department of Health, the Department for Children, Schools and Families and several other public sector bodies and other organisations. Experts in quality improvement, we have a nine-year track record of demonstrating significant, sustainable impact and value for money.

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Improvement Leaders' Network event

Systems thinking and organisational change:

creating the teams, models, structures and tools that foster effective knowledge into action for health policy and programmes that improve the health of the population

Keynote speaker: Professor Allan Best

After the successful launch of the Improvement Leaders’ Network in September 2009, the Improvement Foundation will be hosting a second leaders networking event on 14 April 2010. Focusing on models and systems for getting knowledge into action in the sphere of health policy and health improvement programmes, this event will be of interest to leaders of health and social care services across a range of organisations.

Prof Allan Best is a Senior Scientist at the Centre for Clinical Epidemiology and Evaluation, Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute, and Clinical Professor at the University of British Columbia School of Population and Public Health. He is also Managing Director of InSource – offering innovative “whole systems” research, planning and evaluation tools to support large-scale change.

More information about the day will be available soon. To register your interest and to receive further details when they are available please send your contact details to ILN@improvementfoundation.org

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Improvement Foundation helps in the fight to reduce avoidable cancer deaths

The Improvement Foundation has been commissioned by the Department of Health to help in the fight to reduce avoidable cancer deaths by running a programme to support GPs in using a risk assessment tool to help them identify whether patients are presenting with possible early symptoms of cancer and should be referred on for further investigation. The Improvement Foundation will be working with a number of GP practices across the country in an initial pilot programme to assess the effectiveness of the tool.

To view the recent Guardian article on this topic, please click on the 'read more' link below.

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Using Patient Experience to Improve Quality of Care

We are sorry to say that unfortunately we have had to cancel the ‘Using Patient Experience to Improve Quality of Care’ conference that was planned for the 4th February 2010 due to lack of support resulting in insufficient numbers of attendees.

We will contact you with details of any further events on this topic in the future. 

If you have any questions, please contact Maureen Ingham
 


The ten essentials of large-scale change

The Improvement Foundation has recently had an article published in the British Journal of Healthcare Management identifying ten pragmatic essentials of large-scale change. The article aims to support leaders with the complex challenges of making effective change in our modern public service organisations. It contains the distilled results of practical experience of delivering change across a range of different health and social care contexts, including community contexts, primary care, hospitals and care homes, and seeks to complement the academic knowledge that exists in the research literature.

To view the article in the British Journal of Healthcare Management please click here

To view the full version of ten essentials of large scale change, please click the ‘read more’ link below.

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The Improvement Foundation reduces delays in diagnosing cancer by putting local people in control and working with local GPs

As highlighted in the latest reports, due to late diagnosis, up to 10,000 people every year die of cancer unnecessarily. Earlier detection of symptoms could save between 5,000 and 10,000 lives a year in England. An article published in the British Journal of Cancer on Thursday 3rd December highlights the work of the Improvement Foundation which addresses delays by encouraging patients to report their symptoms early, and general practices to refer to cancer specialists promptly and appropriately.

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Guy Rotherham Award Winners 2009

The winners of the Guy Rotherham Award 2009 were announced at the NHS Alliance 12th Annual Conference, in Manchester. Certificates were presented to the winners during a ceremony led by Professor Chris Drinkwater, President of NHS Alliance. Now in its fifth successful year, the Guy Rotherham Award celebrates the achievements of NHS community-based teams and healthcare professionals in delivering quality improvement and better services for their patients. New this year is the ‘Care Home Category’ that recognises successful initiatives demonstrating improved care and wellbeing for residents in care homes.

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Engaging with Quality in Primary Care

The Improvement Foundation recently produced five case study films and one longer film on behalf of the Health Foundation as part of the delivery of the Engaging With Quality in Primary Care Programme, to highlight the importance of patient involvement. The stories show how service users can be involved in quality improvement and the impact that their feedback can make on patient experience.

To view the five case study films please follow the ‘read more' link below to the Health Foundation's website.

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Teesside University, has won both University of the Year and the Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative Award

The Improvement Foundation (IF) is delighted to announce that our strategic partner, Teesside University, has won both University of the Year and the Outstanding Employer Engagement Initiative Award at last week's Times Higher Education Awards.

Teesside is the first modern university to ever receive recognition as the University of the Year. The IF has a well established relationship with Teesside University in the development and delivery of academic accreditation of our improvement skills and leadership for improvement programmes.

Dean of the School of Health and Social Care at Teesside, Professor Paul Keene, said "I am very pleased and proud to be a member of the University of the Year. This is an excellent achievement, but also for the Improvement Foundation, with whom we have had a very successful partnership with over a number of years. The second award the University achieved recognises the excellent employer engagement arrangements we have and again, our partnership with the Improvement Foundation is a good example. The philosophies of the School of Health and Social Care, which is the largest academic unit, within the University, with over 10,000 students, is very similar to that of the Improvement Foundation, with regard to promoting improvement, innovation and enhancing practice for the benefit of the service user."


Improving Access and Responsiveness in BME Communities through Community and Clinical Engagement

In consultation with Race for Health, and Race for Health PCTs, the Improvement Foundation is developing a programme that will give PCTs an opportunity to re-address some of the imbalance in the quality of primary health care experienced by BME populations. This will be done by offering a structured and locally tailored approach to improve access and responsiveness to general practice and to improve the management of patients at pre-disposed increased risk of certain conditions providing better quality care of long term conditions, specifically for Cardiovascular Disease and Diabetes.

For further information about this programme please contact us on 0161 236 1566 or by email
 


Good Cancer Care Services

The Improvement Foundation were commissioned by the Department of Health to write a guide for practice-based commissioners on developing good cancer care services. The aim of the document, which has now been published, was to support the Cancer Reform Strategy 2007 and be one of the tools that will be used to develop world class commissioning of cancer services across the NHS.

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GP Patient Survey results

The results of the GP Patient Survey run between January and April 2009 have now been published. Follow the link for more details.

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Early presentation of cancer and CVD programme praised by the Public Health Minister

During her speech at the UK Public Health Association Annual Forum on 25-26 March, Public Health Minister, Dawn Primarolo praised the Improvement Foundation's Healthy Communities Collaborative programme.

She said, whilst talking about frontline Communities for Health programme projects, "If I can give you one great example, the Department of Health is currently funding the Improvement Foundation to deliver a Healthy Communities Collaborative programme. The programme is working in 28 sites in our most disadvantaged communities to raise awareness of the signs and symptoms of cancers and CVD, and encourage people who may have symptoms to seek help earlier.

"The projects to date have targeted different groups - men, older people, BME groups, people with learning disabilities. They've delivered interventions in various places - from the local bingo halls or post offices right through to mosques, working men's clubs, reading groups, betting shops, even a local DIY store. Quite simply, wherever people live their lives. It shows this approach - this community-based approach to public health - can be tremendously successful."

 If you would like to join our cancer programme, or would like further information, please contact Jenny Knowles, our inequalities lead, by email  

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Publications list now available online

A comprehensive list of all publications by members of staff from the Improvement Foundation since 2007 is now available online.

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Health Select Committee Report on Health Inequalities March 2009

The Health Select Committee published the report of its inquiry into health inequalities in March 2009. The report focuses predominantly on the difficulties in evaluating policies put in place by the Government to tackle health inequalities. The Improvement Foundation, who submitted evidence to the Committee, welcomes the focus on the policy changes needed to tackle inequalities effectively. Our own success in reducing health inequalities through our Healthy Communities Collaborative (commissioned by the Government's Health Inequalities Unit) provides policy-makers with an ideal platform from which to develop policy that reduces inequalities, for the long-term, in areas with the greatest need. This success has been underpinned by a robust evidence base, allowing progress to be measured and evaluated at every stage.

The involvement of members of the public to drive and lead improvement in their own communities allows our approach to be replicated across the country, cutting inequalities and leading to significant and lasting change.