I'm excited about the future

Andrea Gibbons Quality Improvement Evidence Lead Somerset NHS FT

This feels a brave statement to make.

It’s been an incredibly tough year for health and social care. One of the phrases that sticks with me is that we are all in the same storm, but not the same boat. I don’t know about you but in my boat it’s been exhausting. I’m exhausted from the firefighting and frantic paddling just to stay afloat. I’m disorientated and sea sick from the lack of direction and uncertainty of knowing what’s coming at me next.

I am hopeful that we are now in a position to to take those first baby steps towards looking at how we can improve all of our health and care services

future

My official role is ‘Quality Improvement Evidence Lead’. It means I specialize in providing the improvement community with knowledge, evidence and best practice. Quite rightly, in the last 12 months non Covid related improvement projects taken a back seat in the tsunami of Covid related activity.

So why am I excited?

I’m excited because I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. It’s a long distance race, and endurance run, to get there. But I for one am hopeful that we are now, finally, in a position to begin to take those first baby steps towards looking at how we can improve all of our health and care services, not just those that are Covid related.

I’m excited because whilst we may all be exhausted, the stigma and taboo around talking about our mental health has been largely swept away. We know we have a collective, societal problem, and recognizing that problem allows us to put plans into place (complete with change ideas and Plan Do Study Act cycles).

I’m excited because we are stronger as a health and social care community than ever before. We have all, collectively, learnt so much from our pandemic journey to date. We have worked together across geographies and siloes like never before. We have a new found commitment to sharing and learning from each other.

We have formed informal communities to share and learn from each other. Working from home has prompted us to connect outside our local networks. Initiatives to bring people together in this virtual world, like the Evidence 4 QI Randomised Coffee Trials have taken off (see: https://q.health.org.uk/blog-post/sharingevidence-4-qi-through-randomised-coffee-trials/).

These extended networks that we have built provide us with a wealth of understanding, knowledge and support.

I’m excited because there has been a realization about quite how important evidence, and sharing it is. We have a duty to share what we know. We have seen first-hand what happens when you don’t and learnt from it.

We have been generous and shared our experiences of what has and hasn’t worked. And we have learnt how to get it out to everyone who needs to know it in lightning speed. We haven’t been hampered by publication and review cycles or costs of access to research.

We’ve been creative about how we share knowledge and learning. We’ve supplemented ‘traditional’ academic routes of sharing learning with ‘alternative’ social media channels. These channels have been replete with nuggets of learning, freely and immediately accessible.

So as we emerge, tentatively, from what we all hope will be the worst of the pandemic, I believe we have reason to be hopeful. I’m optimistic that our (eventual) post pandemic world will be knowledge fuelled, evidence based and networked – enabling improvers across the health and social care system to learn the lessons of others and not reinvent the wheel.

OVER 2.1 MILLION ISSUED IN GRANTS DURING 2020 SO FAR TO CARE WORKERS IN NEED!

Knowing someone is there to help can be just the lifeline needed. This is why we will never stop. We are now raising funds for our new Mental Health Grants appeal.

Research shows that the mental health of care and support workers was suffering before the coronavirus existed. Since then, social care workers have experienced challenges that most of us cannot even imagine. The toll on mental health is massive. THIS IS WHY THE CARE WORKERS’ CHARITY IS WORKING ON CREATING A MENTAL HEALTH GRANT STREAM AND WE NEED YOUR HELP TO RAISE FUNDS FOR IT.

HELP US, PLEASE DONATE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE TODAY.

https://thecareworkerscharity.enthuse.com/cf/mental-health-appeal

Anyone looking to learn more why not book an information session about the work we do and the grants available. Email to book your session here info@thecwc.org.uk 009