National Improvement Leaders Peer Spaces

Q have been working in partnership with national organisations for many years. During the COVID-19 pandemic we offered more tailored support which received positive feedback. These workshops are a formal continuation of that support, in recognition of the need for spaces for national leaders to connect and collaborate together on cross-system challenges. 

With ongoing intense financial and workforce pressures, we need to think radically about our approach to improving health and care. Dedicated peer support is just as necessary for the challenges ahead. 

We have seen real impact from holding protected space where national improvement leaders can learn together. They have been able to share ideas, foster resilience and collaborate across nations, to move forwards with improvement work and make change happen. 

Through this work, we embed a culture and practice of improvement across the health and care system, that supports the work of Q members. Collectively, we can accelerate the improvement of health and care. 

Each year we focus on different topics and challenges that leaders across health care are currently facing. Through each series we explore the overarching question: 

“What is needed at national and regional level to create the conditions for collaborative improvement and learning to flourish?” 

The peer spaces then present emerging thinking and provide space for creative responses to this challenge. 

Q’s National Improvement Leaders peer spaces is a limited programme for a small number of leaders with responsibility for leading improvement at the national level or across multiple levels of the health and care system.  Our peer spaces are led by Q and delivered by RUBIS QI. 

From previous years we’ve seen the breadth of ways this group leads to real impact and tangible outcomes: 

We’ve produced practical content and materials. For example, the cross-system improvement framework. This is a powerful tool now being used across health and care systems, and was the result of the 2023/24 group’s work together. 

We’ve converted the rich insights generated by the group into relevant influencing materials. For example, a piece into the mindset shifts that we saw during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

In our current series, we are focusing on the different aspects of Quality Management Systems (QMS), offering participants opportunities for wider sharing and peer support. The series aims to explore how to effectively align QMS with existing strategic frameworks and requirements across nations. 

During our 2024/25 programme we explored: 

• Productivity
• Improvement delivery programme design
• Quality Management Systems
• Building capability at scale 

In 2023/24 our topics included: 

• Supporting systems to develop the capability and conditions for improvement and learning 
• Influencing national and regional organisations 
• Designing and delivering improvement work 
• The skills, roles and relationships needed to lead improvement work