Welcome to Audiology Improvement
What's new from the Audiology Improvement Programme
National Event for Healthcare Scientists - 21-22 March 2011
The NHS in partnership with NHS Improvement and NHS Employers will be holding a Healthcare Science Event at the Millennium Gloucester Hotel, London on 21 and 22 March 2011. The Rt Hon Andrew Lansley CBE MP, Secretary of State for Health, will be the keynote speaker at this event, which will focus on policy and service issues.
The discussion will be around exploring how Healthcare Scientists as leaders can make a difference in putting together the new system architecture and benefits for patients as set out in the White Paper Equity and Excellence: Liberating the NHS.
Attendees will have the opportunity to attend workshop sessions outlining progress with implementation across a wide range of initiatives, including Modernising Scientific Careers, audiology and physiology outcomes, and pathology.
There is no charge for the two-day event, however delegates will need to make their own travel and accommodation arrangements.
CLICK HERE to register for the event.
CLICK HERE for the agenda on Monday 21 March 2011
CLICK HERE for the dinner agenda on Monday 21 March 2011
CLICK HERE for the agenda on Tuesday 22 March 2011
Audiology Transition Workshop - 26th January 2011
During the last year, NHS Improvement have been working with audiology pilot sites undertaking work around transition from children’s to adult hearing services and closely with the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) on the ‘Over to You’ project, a joint venture with the Department of Health.
‘Over to You’ is a one-year project which ends this March 2011. The aim of the project is to improve young people’s experiences of audiology services in the London boroughs of Newham, Tower Hamlets and Hackney.
NDCS played an integral part to the recent Audiology Transition Workshop held on 26 January 2011, held for the audiology pilot sites. For more details about the transition workshop click here»
From Pilots to Prototypes - where we are now
After successfully working with 18 pilot sites across England, NHS Improvement has been working closely with six of the sites as part of the Department of Health National Audiology Programme 2009/10. The six audiology service improvement prototype sites are now concluding and submitting their final results. Early results sound very promising and will be published in March 2011.
Hearing it loud and clear - Audiology Prototype Sites share their achievements! - 18th January 2011
The third and final workshop for the Audiology service improvement prototype sites was held in Birmingham. It was an inspiring day that focussed on sharing the learning and successes of the six sites and celebrating their achievements. Audiology teams, PCT colleagues, RNID partners and National representatives were present. For more details about the day click here»
Pushing the boundaries - Evidence to support the development and implementation of good practice in Audiology 2010
This publication includes improvement stories from 18 sites across England and demonstrates how sites have redesigned Hearing, Balance and Tinnitus pathways to improve the quality of the patient experience, increase productivity and sustain improvements. Click HERE to download document. Individual case studies are available HERE.
Transition from Child to Adult Audiology services – Emerging models
Following the success of the pilot sites work with testing new models and pathways for transition of young people from child to Adult Audiology services, the shared learning has been summarised into a report. This report highlights emerging findings from projects and the potential benefits of establishing some generic winning principles of models for Transition services which may help to inform the wider NHS across these and other disease areas. The Transition Summary Report can be viewed here. All sites presented at the National Audiology Conference held in London on the 7th July 2010. Click HERE to see the presentations.
Coming soon: An NHS Improvement publication sharing the generic learning found in transition services in both the Audiology and Cancer Children & Young People (CYP) pilot sites. The publication will appear on this website. For further information contact: fiona.thow@improvement.nhs.uk
Who are NHS Improvement
NHS Improvement is a national improvement programme working with clinical networks and NHS organisations to transform deliver and sustain improvements across the entire pathway of care in cancer, cardiac, diagnostics and stroke services. Formed in April 2008 after a national review, NHS Improvement has brought together over eight years practical service improvement experience from the Cancer Services Collaborative 'Improvement Partnership', Diagnostics Service Improvement Programme, and the NHS Heart Improvement Programme; the longest running Improvement programmes within the NHS.
What is the Audiology Improvement Programme?
In 2008/9 NHS Improvement worked in partnership with the Department of Health National Audiology Programme, supporting a programme of service improvement, working with challenged sites. Using proven improvement methods, such as Lean methodology, this work has resulted in reduced waiting times, streamlined patient pathways and improvements to the quality of experiences for both patients and staff. For a summary report on work on challenged sites click HERE.
Would like to share your work nationally?
In order to capture the high level of enthusiasm for improving Audiology services there will be a number of opportunities for sites not involved in the pilot site programme to contribute to the National Audiology Programme. Many providers are working with their local Audiology communities and commissioners to develop and sustain care pathways. We would like to invite providers to share their achievements and more importantly the lessons learnt. For more information on sharing learning from your project contact Alyson Banks-Davies, email: alyson.banks-davies@improvement.nhs.uk
These examples, publications and improvement stories will appear here on this website and in other publications. If you would like to share a service improvement with audiology colleagues, or have a useful document that you would like to share please contact the NHS Improvement Audiology team.
Audiology Improvement eBulletin
The Audiology Improvement Programme is also supported by a regular eBulletin which aims to keep subscribers up to date with news and information from the Pilot Sites and from the Department of Health. Details of relevant national events and other useful information sources will also be included. For further information on the Audiology Improvement Programme contact: Alyson Banks-Davies on alyson.banks-davies@improvement.nhs.uk
To view the latest audiology ebulletin click here»
To view previous issues of the audiology ebulletin click here»
To subscribe to the audiology e-bulletin click here»
For further information on the Audiology Improvement Programme contact: alyson.banks-davies@improvement.nhs.uk
