West of England AHSN leading the growth of the Q community

The West of England Academic Health Science Network (AHSN) has been chosen as one of three AHSNs across the country to lead the next phase of the Health Foundation’s exciting Q initiative, which will create opportunities for greater collaborative working for people from across our healthcare systems. Bristol Health Partners, NIHR CLAHRC West and People in Health West of England are partners in the successful west of England application.

The Health Foundation’s Q initiative is connecting people with improvement expertise across the UK. Through Q, people are coming together to form a community – sharing ideas, enhancing skills and collaborating on improvement projects. These people come from a diverse range of backgrounds, including those at the front line of health and social care, patient leaders, managers, researchers, policymakers and others.

The West of England AHSN has played an active role in the development of the Q initiative since its original inception as ‘5,000 safety fellows’. After feeding into the initial design, they helped to recruit founding members from the region to the community who helped co-design and test the initiative during 2015.

The Health Foundation has an ambitious aim to significantly grow the Q community over the coming years, and with local partners – Bristol Health Partners, NIHR CLAHRC West and People in Health West of England – the AHSN will offer people working in and supporting healthcare across the West of England an early opportunity to join the community, which will facilitate greater networking and collaborative working in the delivery of better and safer care.

The West of England AHSN’s Academy will support and manage this recruitment, as well as providing support and delivering activities and opportunities for members within the region.

Dr Mark Juniper, Consultant in Respiratory and Intensive Care Medicine at Great Western Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, says:

“I am really pleased the West of England AHSN has been chosen to lead the next phase of the Q initiative in partnership with the Health Foundation. It will help increase collaborative working across our local healthcare systems and deliver safer and better care for our patients.”

Join the Q community

Opportunities for people in the West of England to join the community will be open from November 2016. If you’d like to receive an email alert to advise you when the recruitment opens, please fill out this simple online form. Anyone interested in joining will then be asked to apply, reflecting on their commitment to, knowledge of and experience in collaborative improvement.

Find out more

For further information, please contact David Evans on 0117 900 2249 or email [email protected].

Alternatively visit the Health Foundation website, where you will find more background information, including the evaluation report for the first phase of the initiative.