Learning to improve

FMLM Northern Ireland Regional Conference

By Dr Rachael Hutton & Dr Grainne Donaghy

Building on the success of last year, the second FMLM Northern Ireland Regional Conference held on 12 November was a huge success, attracting a large number of delegates. With the city providing a picturesque backdrop, the conference at Belfast Castle enabled past, present and future leaders to collectively generate ideas around how to address the challenges of our evolving health and social care system, celebrate successes and explore the development of clinical leadership at all levels of the career pathway.

The theme – ’Learning to improve’ – was firmly embedded during the conference, with a strong focus on patient safety and quality improvement throughout. Dr Cathy Jack, Regional Quality Lead for FMLM, welcomed Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, Chair of Health Policy at Imperial College, London and Chancellor of Newcastle University, to address delegates with a talk about quality and safety in a modern healthcare system. Sir Liam Donaldson outlined some of the current challenges faced by health and social care leaders throughout the UK, describing variations in standards and coordination of care. He encouraged delegates to share outcomes and become ’early adopters’ of evidence, aiming for a truly patient-centred system which values quality and safety.

Coinciding with World Quality Day, Mr Simon Hamilton, Northern Ireland Assembly Health Minister, outlined his vision for ensuring the quality of health and social care services throughout Northern Ireland. He acknowledged the “strong will and ambition amongst organisations and individuals to deliver on quality and to improve the experience of service users”, and announced plans to implement a regional ’improvement institute’ to better facilitate, support and build the necessary capacity and experience to drive quality improvement and standardisation into the future. The institute would enable a more cohesive and collaborative approach to developing innovation, improvements and the sharing of best practice within Northern Ireland.

Vijaya Nath, Director of Leadership Development at The King’s Fund, explored medical engagement, collective leadership and quality improvement, describing how to create a culture that delivers sustained high quality, safe and efficient health and social care. She encouraged delegates to challenge the culture until “the behaviour is so internalised that doctors are motivated to improve the quality of patient care – when no one is watching”.

We were delighted to see such a wealth of local expertise complement the keynote speakers, with two excellent sessions comprising five parallel workshops on quality improvement, innovation and leadership, professionalism, human factors, evidence-based medicine and big data. Delegates also had the opportunity to share their improvement experiences, and there were more than 40 high quality presentations over five keenly contested sessions, which were aligned to the strategic goals of Quality 2020.

Two panel sessions evoked much discussion and debate on the theme of learning to improve. Building on an earlier discussion with Mr Peter Lees, FMLM Chief Executive and Medical Director, Dr Michael McBride, Chief Medical Officer and Regional Lead for FMLM in Northern Ireland, interviewed the eight clinical leadership fellows participating in the inaugural year of ADEPT –  Achieve Develop Explore Programme for Trainees.

This was an exciting opportunity to explore the views of some of the clinical leaders of the future, and allowed an insight into the commitment and dedication amongst junior doctors in Northern Ireland to develop their medical leadership skills. Dr Brian Robson, Executive Clinical Director, Healthcare Improvement Scotland, invited a patient representative and a trainee doctor to join previous speakers, the chief medical officer and regional clinical leaders to debate some of the challenges raised over the course of the day, facilitating a lively discussion which reminded us of the importance of always engaging and empowering our patients and carers throughout the entire system.

As the regional trainee representatives for FMLM in Northern Ireland, we would like to extend our thanks to all those who participated in making the conference such a huge success. We were inspired and impressed by the passion and commitment of all those in attendance, and look forward to continuing to work collectively to achieve the aim that Quality 2020 set out – “to be recognised internationally, but especially by the people of Northern Ireland, as a leader for excellence in health and social care.”