King's College London

Quality improvement (QI) is a systematic approach, where people use specific tools, methods, and data to solve problems and improve the quality and experience of care for patients and staff.

Training in QI tools and methods provide staff with the knowledge, skills, and confidence to identify and understand problems, find solutions, and implement and monitor change.

Many NHS Trusts across the UK have developed organisation-wide training programmes to give their staff the knowledge and skills to do quality improvement. These programmes have been linked to NHS trusts achieving higher ratings in quality assessments and improvements in the processes and safety of care.

Despite such improvements, precisely how these programmes work has not always been clearly and explicitly outlined. This can make it difficult to replicate these programmes and to know what needs to be in place for the programmes to sustain their success.

In collaboration with the QI team at King’s College Hospital (KCH), the research team are developing a Theory of Change (a type of programme theory) to clearly outline how the QI training programme at KCH could reach its improvement goals.

A Theory of Change is a visual illustration that acts like a road map for how we get from the inputs of a programme to its ultimate goals.

A Theory of Change outlines everything that needs to be in place including resources, training and the short, medium, and long-term outcomes needed to reach the goals. This map and other information gathered in this study will be used to inform the QI programme and its evaluation

Please visit the King's Improvement Science website for more information on this project.