Using Quality Improvement approaches to improve care pathways in Mental Health

A joint Healthcare Conferences UK and MINDSet event

The Five Year Forward View for Mental Health aims to improve outcomes for people through better access to effective integrated care pathways, crisis care and physical health care for a range of mental health conditions. There is a growing recognition that quality improvement approaches have the potential to help solve many of the complex problems encountered when developing and improving mental health care pathways.

Quality improvement can be defined as a ‘working together, using methods, tools, data measurement, curiosity and an open mindset to improve health care’ – the Health Foundation Quality Improvement Made Simple.

Quality improvement is particularly good at helping us when we face complex problems where underlying issues aren’t obvious or completely understood, where solutions depend on changes in human behaviour and when ‘what to do for the best’ isn’t known at the onset.

This event will discuss current developments and future trends in quality improvement in mental health services and address policy issues. The day will offer the chance to network with others, find out how quality improvement is spreading in mental health settings and discuss improvement case studies with mental health clinicians who are using quality improvement approaches. You’ll be able to share your improvement ideas and experiences (successes and challenges!), reflect on your own practice and create a plan to develop your personal effectiveness. We’ll also show you how to use the MINDSet quality improvement tools, how to submit a case study and how to use the resources it offers. You will gain tools, techniques and support to get started on improvement project straight away.

Key topics will include an introduction to the improvement journey stage by stage including commonly used quality improvement tools and techniques

• Engaging colleagues and stakeholders
• Coproduction with service users and carers to accelerate progress
• Identifying quality issues in your service and generating ideas for improvement
• Defining quality goals and simple approaches to measure, evaluate, learn and retest
• Building in sustainability and spread
• Tips for writing up your improvement work and sharing your learning

The event attracts CPD accreditation points contributing to professional development and revalidation evidence.