The power of storytelling

A colleague shared this excellent blog with us recently.  It is by Shaun Maher, Principal Educator in the Quality Improvement Team at NHS Education for Scotland and is on the subject of the power of storytelling for improvement – https://www.careopinion.org.uk/blogposts/654/stories-the-original-data-for-improvement Shaun describes how our use of data in improvement is important and qualitative data can … More The power of storytelling

Small Acts of Kindness – A personal reflection

Following Harriet’s excellent blog for World Kindness Day in November, a few members of Team ASPH were involved in a conversation to see how we could indeed “start an epidemic” of kindness in our organisation and beyond. It was from here that the idea of a Kindness Advent Calendar was born. You can access the … More Small Acts of Kindness – A personal reflection

The case for kindness

We have written here and elsewhere about the human side of change and our experience that improvement can only flourish in an environment in which teams are supported and where good leadership-for-improvement is in place. This case also seems to be supported by NHS Improvement in their national framework for improvement-skill-building and leadership development – … More The case for kindness

Joy in work

Burnout for staff working in the NHS is well-documented and feels like it has never been worse.  We also know that staff turnover rates are increasing, in part because of this burnout, and this leads to increasing risk of accidents and patient safety incidents. The ‘Be the Change’ team are big fans of this white … More Joy in work

Five key learning points about quality improvement

Last month a number of the ASPH team were fortunate to complete the ‘Improvement Coach Professional Development Program’ run by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI). The course is a 12-week programme, designed to further develop improvement knowledge and skills in coaching and facilitating improvement teams.  It was a great course and the latest in … More Five key learning points about quality improvement

Driving improvement through compassionate leadership and staff engagement

I was delighted to read this article by Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals for Care Quality Commission (CQC) in which he explains the importance of compassionate and inclusive leadership.  Sir Mike explains how, through the CQC programme of inspecting acute hospitals, it has become “increasingly clear that one of the strongest indicators … More Driving improvement through compassionate leadership and staff engagement