This is a brief blog to send out positive thoughts to everyone across our hospitals, networks, NHS, country and the world as we work together to fight against the COVID-19 pandemic. These are unprecedented times and its uncertain as to what lies ahead but we must remain calm and focus on how we can help ourselves and each other to ‘send the virus packing‘. We are now in effect living through world wide PDSA cycles of improvement as we adapt, adopt or dis-guard new ideas as we learn what is effective in our fight against the virus. We are aware that many of our network members are working from home, providing home schooling, being redeployed, doing our best to keep our local improvement programmes going or all of the above! So to help during this difficult time we have set up a dedicated COVID-19 section on our N-QI-CAN networking and sharing forum (NNSF) to provide a resource that you can access where ever you are via the web at work, on your phone or on your home PC. We (our officers and our members) are providing COVID-19 updates in regards to national clinical audit / projects, guidance, data, sharing helpful learning from (enforced) changes and a support service for each other in addition to the usual forums list below.
We now have over 1000 QI professionals as members so lets use our QI skills to share and learn together. The forum is open to all NHS staff, our regional network members and other QI experts so please sign-up today and join our networks.
If you are looking for other QI related blogs try the Clinical Audit Support Centre fortnightly blog who this have published a blog this week to ‘celebrate our NHS audit and QI heroes!’. On this theme my Clinical Audit colleagues and I at my trust have volunteered to be trained to test the fitting and testing of masks so that our frontline staff have the PPE protection they need. If you can do anything to help please contact your COVID-19 leads and get involved – no matter how small it will all help if we work together.
Stay safe and stay strong
Carl Walker
National Quality Improvement (incl. Clinical Audit) Network (N-QI-CAN) chair
Post blog note (26/3/20)
Following feedback from colleagues who have been redeployed or haven’t got access to the forum at the minute – here are the headlines & relevant links from the COVID-19 posts on the forum to date:
- NHSE/I statement on response to COVID-19 inc CQUINs / BPT (link)
- HQIP recommendations to NHSE/I on National Clinical Audit (link)
- ICNARC report on 196 patients critically ill with COVID-19 (link)
- NHSX and NHS Digital have made the decision to extend the compliance deadline for the national data opt-out and the final date for submission of the Data Security and Protection Toolkit (DSPT) to 30 September 2020 (link)
- NHSE/I statement on Quality Accounts (link)
- CQC statement on suspension of inspections (link)
- NICE guidance: COVID-19 rapid guideline: critical care in adults (link)
- NICE guidance: COVID-19 rapid guideline: dialysis service delivery (link)
- NICE guidance: COVID-19 rapid guideline: delivery of systemic anticancer treatments (link)
30/3/20 update
-
NHSE/I statement on ‘Reducing burden and releasing capacity at NHS providers and commissioners to manage the COVID-19 pandemic’ including stopping non COVID19 related National Clinical Audit (link)
- ICNARC report on 775 patients critically ill with COVID-19 (link)
- COVID-ACS Global Registry (link)
- International audit registry relating to COVID-19 Surgery (link)
31/3/20 update
- The UK CORONAVIRUS CANCER MONITORING PROJECT. The first emergency COVID-19 reporting project in cancer patients in the world (link)
- Feeling stressed about COVID-19 a useful blog from Silver cloud – that gives you tips for maintaining a healthy mind (link)
8/4/20 update
- Updated letter from HQIP in response to COVID-19 (link)
- National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) have now set up a webpage with a list of Urgent Public Health Research Studies for COVID-19 (link)
- Guidance from NHS digital on process for maintaining the shielded patients list (link)
- NICE Coronavirus (COVID-19) Guidance page (link)