System Leaders Welcome International Speaker Margaret Heffernan

The Advancing Quality Alliance (AQuA) was delighted to recently welcome back international speaker and businesswoman Margaret Heffernan for an exciting system leadership event, alongside our partners NHS North West Leadership Academy (NWLA), NHS Mersey Internal Audit Agency (MIAA) and the Association of Directors for Adult Social Services (ADASS) North West.

Margaret Heffernan (Image: MHeffernan.com)

Over 100 senior leaders from across AQuA membership and wider health and social care organisations attended the session, held at the University of Manchester; to hear from Margaret and explore the key skills and approaches to successful system leadership, and discuss the challenges in achieving this.

Speaking after the event, Helen Kilgannon, Strategic Portfolio Lead, said:

"We were thrilled to welcome Margaret for this session. She really is an inspirational speaker and described our complex systems, and the various challenges faced by leaders really well.

"She also highlighted a lot of learning from business, and how day-to-day bureaucracy hampers our ability to do a good job and the right thing for people and staff."

Starting her career in television and radio production, Margaret is now also a successful chief executive and author, with her last book The Big Impact of Small Changes, released in 2015. She also regularly delivers talks at a range of high profile conferences across a number of sectors, including the popular TED talks.

Below you can find a multimedia round of some of the tweets and photos from the event, or catch full highlights from the day via the #SL2017 hashtag.

In September, we will also be welcoming The King’s Fund Chief Executive Chris Ham, for the second of our Transformation masterclasses, The Journey to Place Based Care, with NWLA and MIAA. For more information or to book your place, please visit our website.

For more information about Margaret Heffernan, please visit her website or follow her on Twitter @M_Heffernan.

Supporting Leadership Across the North West

The Advancing Quality Alliance (AQuA), in partnership with NHS North West Leadership Academy (NHS NWLA), are pleased to announce an exciting vision setting out how we will be supporting leadership development with our members in the North West.

Our joint paper Leadership and Improvement, outlines how we aim to support members to develop leadership capability across all levels and roles for our members, to help them meet the ongoing demands and pressures faced across the NHS and wider social care sector.

Speaking on its publication, AQuA Chief Executive David Fillingham CBE said:
“The NHS and social care are facing unprecedented challenges. Investing in improvement skills and developing leadership talent will be crucial if we are to deliver the transformation that is so badly needed.

“The new national framework will be a great stimulus to this. We look forward to working in close partnership with NHS North West Leadership Academy to support its implementation.”

The paper comes in response to a number of recommendations set out in two major reports published last year:

• Developing People – Improving Care, published by the National Improvement and Leadership Development Board; a partnership of national NHS, health and social care bodies. This framework sets out a vision for improvement and leadership across all levels of staff working in NHS-funded services
• Developing Systems Leadership – Interventions, Options and Opportunities, from the national NHS Leadership Academy, which outlines how we can support developing the capacity and capability of leaders, to work across organisational boundaries and bring the Five Year Forward View into reality.

Deborah Davis, Managing Director of NHS North West Leadership Academy, said:
“We have a long established relationship with AQuA and together we have a successful track record of delivering joint initiatives.

“I look forward to further enhancing our collaborative relationship, along with other partners in the North West too.”

Organisations in the North West are in a unique position to respond to this agenda, due their ability to draw on both the support from AQuA around quality improvement, change management and improvement leadership, and NHS NWLA’s commissioning for leadership development programmes.

We hope that the paper gives our members a clear understanding of how we hope to work with them in the coming months and years, and effectively respond to the challenges we face.

Download your copy here.

We would welcome further discussions about this work from any of our members, and you can get in touch via AQuA@srft.nhs.uk / nwla.info@nhs.net, or via Twitter @AQuA_NHS / @NHSnwla.

AQuA Members Celebrate Leadership Success at North West Leadership Academy Awards

North West Leadership Academy's Managing Director
Deborah Davis opens the Awards

NHS leaders across the North West recently celebrated a night of success at the North West Leadership Academy’s annual Recognition Awards, for which AQuA was one of the sponsors.

The awards, held at the McDonald Kilhey Court Hotel in Standish, recognised the leading individuals and teams across all levels and professions of the NHS in the North West.

Speaking after the awards, Helen Kilgannon, AQuA’s Head of System Transformation, said:

“It was fantastic to join our colleagues at North West Leadership Academy in celebrating some of the region’s current and rising leaders across the NHS.

“These are individuals that have led some truly outstanding improvements to both patients’ health and experience of the NHS, and for the staff and colleagues they work with on a daily basis.

“AQuA work closely with many of these people, and we are really proud to have such a wealth of talent across the North West.”

AQuA members named among the winners included:

• Emerging Leader - Dr Benita Kane, Consultant in Respitory Medicine, University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust
• Inclusive Leader – Karmini McCann, Head of Workforce Futures, University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Foundation Trust
• Inspirational Leader – Linda Johnstone, Clinical Director, Cheshire & Wirral Partnership NHS Foundation Trust
• Leading and Developing People – Dave Sweeney, Deputy Chief Officer, NHS Halton CCG
• Leading Systems Transformation – Andrew Bennett, Chief Officer & Senior Responsible Officer, Better Care Together (Morecambe Bay Vanguard)
• Living the Values – Dr Neil Smith, GP Lead for Cancer, Pennine Lancashire, NHS East Lancashire & Blackburn with Darwen CCG
• Team Outstanding Achievement - Clinical – Prof. Cheng-Hock Toh, The Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Team Outstanding Achievement – Non Clinical – Organisational Development and Training team, University Hospitals of Central Manchester NHS Foundation Trust

Among the finalists in the Emerging Leader category was Dr Emmanuel Nsetubu, our AQ Clinical Lead for Sepsis, and Consultant Infectious Diseases Physician at The Royal Liverpool & Broadgreen University Hospitals NHS Trust.

AQuA Fellow and Integrated Care Programme Director for Oldham CCG, Kath Wynne-Jones, was also among the finalists in the Leading Systems Transformation category.

For more information about the awards, please visit the North West Leadership Academy website, or you can follow the coverage from the night on Twitter at #NWawards16.

Advanced Improvement Practitioner - Applications Now Open

We are now welcoming applications from members to take part in the next round of our Advanced Improvement Practitioner (AIP) programme.

Running from November to May 2017, this in-depth course is designed to support senior staff to develop their skills and capabilities to lead and facilitate improvements across their organisations, and health and care systems.

The programme is ideal for members who are leading services or tasked with service transformation, including roles in quality, assurance, improvement, or even organisational development.

Participants will take part in modules on:

• Quality improvement theory and practice -  including key policy contexts, models and methodologies for improvement, systems thinking and organisational strategies, person-centred transformation, and developing theories for large-scale change
• Approaches and execution of change and engagement - models and principles for successful change, testing and implementation, improvement culture, how to build engagement, and managing and engaging people, communities and stakeholders
• The role of an improvement leader - covering the key habits of improvers, how to create conditions for learning and improvement, resilience, and system leadership

Full information about the programme is available in our information pack. 

To apply, please complete our application form and return to lucy.davies@srft.nhs.uk by 12pm on Wednesday 12 October.

Applicants must have the support of an Executive Sponsor or their line manager in order to apply.

If you would like a further discussion about the programme, please contact liz.twelves@srft.nhs.uk.

Join us at NHS Confederation 2016

This week we'll be attending the annual NHS Confederation 2016 conference and exhibition in Manchester.

As the voice of NHS leadership and employers across the country, Confed brings together and speaks on behalf of the whole health and care system.

With a range of leading figures from healthcare, NHS staff and partners in attendance, the conference is always an exciting chance to explore latest developments and share learning alongside colleagues from across the country.

This year's conference will be focusing heavily on efforts to transform health and care for patients, and looking at new and emerging models of care, redesigning health and care systems, and better integration and efficiency of services.

We're delighted to be attending this year's conference, and look forward to meeting AQuA members and colleagues from across the NHS to share our work, and learn how other organisations are improving care for patients.

Come and visit our team at Stand 129 inside the exhibition hall, which you can find on the exhibition floor plan. We'll also be tweeting updates throughout the day from @AQuA_NHS with the hashtag #Confed2016.

You can also find a full programme of events and activities, as well as a list of speakers on the conference website, or follow @NHSconfed on Twitter for updates.