The Innovation Hub pilot has been live for one month and we’ve been hearing from occupational therapists (OTs) about their cases for change with their improvement ideas. We’ve identified two categories of change with improvements aimed at:
- identifying people who may benefit from early and preventative interventions
- expanding the provision of occupational therapy.
We’ve heard about projects that are improving:
- referral processes between primary and community care
- triage processes for managing waiting lists
- health literacy and self-management approaches
- prevention training and education for care home staff
- patient flow and outcomes through a seven-day working model.
OTs are identifying the same categories of learning when leading improvement:
- analyse and demonstrate the problem's extent and its cost to the system
- early on, identify key individuals and align your idea with their priorities
- involve others in developing and testing ideas
- avoid piloting too many ideas at once or over-evaluating
- get your data collection right and be consistent
- use feedback from stakeholders as valuable data
- invest in effectively presenting your service and outcomes.
Of all the learning shared with us, a key message is that leading improvement involves winning hearts and minds by identifying the right stakeholders to collaborate with and working together to create a compelling case for change.
We’re currently turning improvement ideas into innovation case studies that will be available on the Innovation Hub. We believe there is power in growing our data and insight. If you recognise a need for change in your service and/or have an improvement idea, please use our digital submission tool (It takes less than 15 minutes to complete). Your insight will help us evaluate the potential of an Innovation Hub that combines your learning with others.
Share your improvement journeys with us
Do you recognise a change that needs to be made to your practice? The Innovation Hub pilot now allows you to share your improvement journey with us at any point in your project, whether you are an occupational therapist, a learner, or a support worker.