Rapid innovation and learning have been at the heart of our immediate response to Coronavirus (COVID-19). The HSE National QI Team and Health and Social Care QI (HSCQI) Northern Ireland hosted an All-Ireland online learning event on 26 August 2020. Over 190 HSE and HSCNI staff took part in the event which was facilitated by Q, an initiative connecting people, who have improvement expertise, across the UK and Ireland.
This is a write-up from the workshop.
Workshop aim and approach to write up
The workshop explored practical ways to navigate the uncertainties from the COVID-19 pandemic, with ideas to help teams develop a clear vision for the future. In this write up we have included:
- An introduction to practical tools and models from futures and foresight
- Themes from break out group discussions about current problems and future possibilities in health and social care post COVID-19.
Snippets from the workshop
- Watch Dr. Aideen Keaney, Director of the Northern Ireland Health and Social Care QI Network, welcome participants and share insights of the COVID-19 context in Northern Ireland
- Watch Dr. Philip Crowley, HSE National Director Quality Improvement, welcome participants and share insights of the COVID-19 context in Ireland
- Watch Libby Keck, Head of Q labs network, sharing information on tools from futures and foresight that can help to navigate uncertainties thrown up by COVID-19
What do we mean by futures and foresight?
Futures and foresight methodologies encourage and support us to think about and plan strategically for the future. They are less about predicting the future and more about looking for actions that can be taken now to shape what comes next, with the knowledge that the future is not predetermined. Futures and foresight tools can be used to help us make sense of the present; to identify trends, map alternative futures and come up with plans for how to reach the future that we want.
Workshop discussions
During the session participants were divided into small breakout groups of around 10 people. To get the most from this workshop, we asked people to complete a short activity in preparation – meaning more time for future focused conversation in this session. The purpose of this activity was to provide time and space for:
- People to reflect on their present concerns and current state of play.
- Future focused discussion on changes that people want to see and actions they can take.
- Individual reflection and group discussion.
Key themes included
- Collaborative / collective leadership
- Staff well-being
- Learning from COVID-19 QI approaches
- Changes to services (use of technology) / equality of care
- Greater service user input / co-design
- Better resourcing / funding
What people say about the workshop
Slido was used during the session to encourage all participants input and this is included in the session write up report. In addition, HSCQI and National QI Team asked 15 participants for individual reflections after the virtual workshop. The reflections and experiences from participants post event are captured here
"I think the All Ireland collaboration enhances the capability of achieving sustained improvement and change because of the much greater range of inputs and perspectives. It creates a very useful forum/vehicle to effectively drive change. It is also albeit virtual an attractive system/partner for others to wish to work with and also be successful in funding bids given the diversity"
Using a future's thinking, participants suggested words to complete a sentence on the best healthcare.
Want to find out more?
1. Reading and activity sheet shared in advance of #RapidQIreland event
2. Download the full workshop write-up to find out more about what was shared and discussed.
3. COVID-19 Q Community rapid learning events write-ups:
4. Joining Q by clicking on this link
5. Q Community Page (click)
6. Explore news, blogs, events, groups and members related to COVID-19 (click)
7. HSCQI
Back to home page
Connect with us: @TheQCommunity @NationalQI #QIreland
