Tools and resources

We have created a number of professional tools, resources and templates to support your QI journey.

Do you have an idea or have you identified what you want to improve?

You'll just need the right tools to get started. Use the tools and resources you need for each stage of your improvement strategy.

How to get started

If you have any questions, would like a chat about your idea or want to know what support is available from the team, email us ccs.improvementteam@nhs.net

You can capture your Quality Improvement initiative using our QI Snapshot template. Send it to the Improvement and Transformation team to share your learning and help us track our QI journey.

QI Snapshot Template

1520Kb

Tools for creative thinking

These tools can help with idea generation and choosing which changes to move forward with.

Fresh pair of eyes

6 thinking hats

Breaking the rules

MoSCoW

Impact vs effort

Design personas

Project documentation

An overview of documents to support your Quality Improvement project from start to finish.

Getting started - Project charter

Deep dive - Benefits realisation

Design - Options appraisal

Deliver - Project plan tracker

Evolve - Lessons learned tools

The lessons learned tool supports regular reflection on what went well and what didn't, capturing insights throughout the project. This log helps guide future projects for you and other teams.

Review achievements, lessons learned, outstanding actions, and recommendations, and develop a schedule for ongoing review. This step is crucial for evolution and continual improvement.

Lessons Learned Matrix Template

Project Closure Template

Using data for improvement

Let data drive your improvements. Data is your ultimate tool for pinpointing areas that need change and creating a compelling case for improvement. While it might feel daunting at first, don't let that stop you!

Capacity and demand

Benchmarking

Pareto principle (80-20 rule)

Impact measures

Statistical process control (SPC)

Design tools

Design is about making sure that the solution you develop is a good fit for the problem you are trying to solve. There are lots of different angles to think about, from developing efficient processes to designing ideas that work well for all service users.

By using tried and tested techniques, you'll soon have developed your idea from a rough sketch to a work of art!

Some good design principles for an effective design:

Simplify! Great design makes it easy to do things right. See how many steps you can cut out – you might be surprised!
Get it right the first time. Sounds easy, right? But so many of our systems rely on repeated actions, like checking work, walking back and forth to a store cupboard, or having multiple appointments.
Eliminate waste by identifying which steps add value.
Think about different perspectives. You’ll be amazed by the ideas you can generate by walking in someone else’s shoes.
Make it inclusive. Get other people involved and reach out to people who might feel excluded.
Consider human behaviour. In theory, it should be easy to design a perfect process, but then we add people to the mix! Consider how easy and attractive your design is, and what might get in the way of people adopting it.

Gap analysis

Design personas

Process mapping

You could spend years studying all the different theories about how people respond to change, but who has the time for that?

Don’t worry – we’ve got your back. Summaries of some key ideas:

Develop a shared picture of what will be better when your proposed change has taken place. Your vision is your guiding star!
Engage, engage, engage! You might have heard the idea that people need to hear a message 7 times for it to sink in. Our advice would be don’t stop at 7! Change up the ways you share your message and ask for people to get involved.
Treat people how they want to be treated, not how you would like to be treated. We’re all different – that’s what makes life interesting. People need different things to get excited about change – spend some time working out what makes them tick!
Recognise and acknowledge emotions. By understanding and accepting where people are, you can help them to move forward.

Bridges model for change and transition

Change curve

Individual preferences (colour communication styles)

Co-production

RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed)

Process improvement

A 'process' is a series of actions which are carried out to achieve a particular result, for example:

How a service receives and manages referrals
How letters are written and sent to service users
How clinic appointments are booked

All our services have a range of clinical and administrative processes in place, often supported by more detailed instructions (‘Standard Operating Procedures’ or ‘SOPs’).

Process improvement is where we review a process because we think things could be done more effectively.

Process mapping

A process map is a diagram putting into visual form the steps of a process. It can be created in a basic flowchart or in more detail (using swimlanes to represent different teams or services).

Find a topic > Do research > Create a post outline > Write the post > Proofread content > Publish the post

You may wish to begin process mapping at the start of a project or improvement. It can help you to understand how a process works and what the links are between teams or services. This can be useful in identifying who needs to be involved in the work and what data or other information might be needed.

Traditionally, specific shapes mean certain things on a process map – for example, a diamond usually represents a decision being made.

Process mapping

Process flow

When reviewing processes, it can be helpful to record the time it takes to complete each step in the process.

Looking at process flow helps:

understand how a process works in real-time
identify bottlenecks which delay the flow of a process or pathway
understand how a change to a process has affected its flow

Process Flow

When you’ve completed the tool it gives you a visual representation of the time and resources needed to complete a process.

Value stream mapping (VSM)

A value stream map (VSM) is similar to a process map, in that it displays the steps in a specific process.

VSMs usually:

go into more detail than process maps
emphasise which steps in the process add value (to the patient, service user or family)
include details of the time taken to complete each step and the number of tasks performed at each step

You may decide to use value stream mapping when you need to:

identify the key roles responsible for the process and how they relate to each other
highlight how a process flows across team/service boundaries or functions/technology
identify potential process issues like reworking, duplication, excessive checking etc.
identify the time taken at each stage and the volume of work going through the process

TIMWOODS

'TIMWOODS' is an acronym describing how processes can be wasteful – for example, a process which moves things around a lot can be considered to be wasteful in terms of Transportation.

Another example is when colleagues have to queue to use the photocopier – this is wasteful in terms of Waiting.

If you have defined the process you want to put into a process map, take a look at the categories defined in the TIMWOODS tool. Consider whether you are wasting the valuable resources of your team or service in any of the eight ways defined in the tool. You may find that this helps you to improve your process and service provided to patients, service users or families.

Spaghetti diagrams

Spaghetti diagrams can help highlight how time, money and other resources can be used more effectively.

A spaghetti diagram is a picture using a continuous line to show the physical journey someone or something goes on. It can be particularly useful to understand the experience a patient or service user may have on a clinical pathway, how clinical supplies are managed, or in considering how a referral is processed through the service.

Spaghetti Diagram

Tools and resources

How to get started

Tools for creative thinking

Project documentation

Using data for improvement

Design tools

Process improvement

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