I’m delighted to unveil a new milestone quality plan that will provide the structured approach for nursing and allied health professions across Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust and The Royal Wolverhampton (RWT) for the next two years.
Called the Quality Framework (QF), it replaces the Clinical Systems Framework, which ran from 2020-22. It is a shared vision for continuous improvement with the aim of providing safe, effective and high-quality care for all service users at both organisations.
Each revision of the framework gets better. This one includes an overall milestone plan and five individual plans reflecting the goals of each service area.
Based on six pillars – excellence in care, workforce, culture, education, communication and research and innovation – the Quality Framework has been shaped by contributions from all levels, including more than 700 Nurses, Midwives, Health Visitors, and Allied Health Professionals.
Those staff groups have added their input through a series of listening events, surveys and development days. I am impressed with the quality of the ideas and aspirations that this plan represents.
We can see the common aspirations and some divergence reflecting local priorities for improvement. This is an important step forward as we are finding ways to identify and share best practice. across both organisations.
Looking at the six pillars and starting with excellence in care, our shared vision is to deliver exceptional care together to improve the health and wellbeing of our communities. It is central to everything we do within our organisations.
The quality of care we provide continues to be underpinned by best practice that is evidence based and innovative with measurable outcomes.
In terms of workforce, one of the core components of a good quality service is ensuring that the right staff are in the right place at the right time. This requires constant oversight, planning and resource for development.
Our culture is based around teamwork-shared visions and goals, which are essential to deliver good quality and excellent care. Nurses, Midwives, Health Visitors and Allied Health Professionals are an integral part of multidisciplinary teams and leadership structures within the organisation.
Another core component of care is the need for education. The QF supports the continual drive to improve skill sets, develop our teams and prepare our workforce, based on patient needs and requirements.
The QF will continue to be a tool to plan and measure our performance as a team, through agreed objectives and milestones. Communication is key to ensure its ongoing success and to share its progress. Engagement, ownership and knowing where we are going is critical.
Finally, continual improvement requires that our care is underpinned by evidence, trustworthy research and validated best practices.
The plan reflects a commitment to professionalism and a commitment to quality and I am looking forward to seeing the impact on patient care.
Take care,
Ann-Marie.