RCPCH EQIP 2021/2022
The RCPCH Epilepsy Quality Improvement Programme (EQIP) will deliver up to eight months of expert QI training for up to 24 paediatric epilepsy teams in a virtual format, using QI methodology tools to identify sustainable improvements within their services for children and young people with epilepsy.
Do you find yourself constantly struggling for time, staff, and resources?
Do you feel overwhelmed with the backlog of work whilst trying to deliver the best possible care for children and young people with epilepsy?
Would you like to see sustainable, long term changes in your clinic?
If the answer is ‘Yes’ to any of the above questions, then this is the programme for you. The new virtual RCPCH Epilepsy Quality Improvement Programme (EQIP). Teams will be a part of a programme of training that is offered to whole teams within epilepsy services, working together on how to identify gaps which require local improvement and gaining knowledge and skills on how best overcome these challenges as a team by finding a suitable solution.
What are the programme benefits?
The training is practical and engaging, combining select quality improvement tools, high-performing team development, patient and family engagement, leadership and influencing skills. We deliberately picked and chose elements of quality improvement methodology and combined it with other types of skills training, to provide a package which will correspond to the working reality of epilepsy teams, who may be struggling with staffing capacity, fragmented teamwork and limited resourcing.
Based on the success of the EQIP pilot delivered in 2019/2020, this interactive and engaging programme will provide comprehensive distance learning training with facilitated support using QI methodologies and training covering topics such as:
- team building,
- action planning,
- leadership,
- patient and family engagement,
- effective networking,
- approaches to challenges,
- tests of change and many more.
The RCPCH EQIP will be free of charge and run by an experienced Quality Improvement trainer that will provide teams with practical, training and comprehensive support helping you to:
- Become a high-performing, cohesive team.
- Develop lasting improvement for your service.
- Engage effectively with patients and families.
- Work with other teams in England and Wales in a safe learning space.
- CPD-validated by RCPCH.
- Showcase your achievements via programme events, Epilepsy12, RCPCH events and other channels.
"Allowed us as a team to become familiar with approaches to service improvement. It gave us an opportunity to brainstorm ideas and develop a greater team bond through the training weekend and through meeting regularly after to achieve the project. It has allowed us to identify other gaps within our service and improve communication drastically."
How does it work?
Participation requires time and energy, which it is sometimes hard to find when stretched by the requirements of day-to-day service delivery and backlog of work that has built up over the course of the pandemic. However, putting in that initial time often helps teams find ways to do things with less effort – yet more impact – later on.
Expert training
The QI training will be delivered by an expert trainer with a wealth experience of leading whole scale multi professional groups to design and sustain systems that are conducive to evidence-based clinical practice, and thus benefit the health and wellbeing of patients and service users.
Programme aims
The programme is designed to support EQIP teams to:
- develop more cohesive teams with clearly defined roles and a shared sense of mission and responsibility
- identify areas for improvement in care delivery
- design sustainable interventions to address these areas, that are manageable within their existing set-up.
Programme flexibility and capacity
The RCPCH EQIP has moved into a virtual collaborative in response to the pandemic and additional pressures experienced by paediatric epilepsy services. This new format of the EQIP is designed to offer more flexibility and work around the current capacity of participant teams. The programme encourages a multi-disciplinary whole-team approach to service improvement and we recommend teams devote at least 1-2 hours of time per week to work on team projects w Teams can attend short live training webinars, and access to pre-course materials and recorded real-world training examples. This programme is designed to offer more flexibility and work around the capacity of participant teams.
Monthly support
All teams will be supported by QI facilitators and provided with monthly support calls and team 1:1 meetings.
Website
The RCPCH EQIP website will provide more information and related news on the programme; a secure area for teams to find pre-course materials/templates as well as training modules/topics that will be uploaded throughout the course of the programme. The website will provide access into the QI journeys of the first EQIP wave of teams wo have now gone on to become pioneers.
What do you mean by whole teams?
Their are no restrictions on the size of the team, but lots of enthusiasm and dedication is a must! We are looking for a core members of epilepsy service teams to sign up to the programme.
We know that it can be a challenge to define and identify what an epilepsy team is, given the complexity of the care pathway across a healthcare setting. However, having a cohesive team has been consistently flagged as an important success factor, not just in epilepsy, but across many types of health services. Therefore, one of the key requirements of this programme of work was that participants attend as a whole team and learn together rather than attend as individuals.
For this reason, we ask that each service identify all staff members who regularly contribute to the delivery of their paediatric epilepsy service who were willing to commit to participating in all of the training events and that they undertake the improvement work together. It was really important that everyone was on board and fully committed – half-hearted participation would compromise the team’s chances of success!
Core team members are staff who meet regularly on a weekly basis and feed into the care of their patient caseloads. Staff members can include:
- Consultant Paediatricians,
- ESN’s,
- Registrars,
- Paediatric Neurologists,
- Paediatric Neurophysiologist,
- Adult/transition service staff,
- Clinical audit staff,
- Administrators,
- Secretaries,
- Junior doctors.
EQIP Champions
Each team in the pilot nominated an EQIP champion. This person motivates the team between learning sessions, reports on progress to the trainers, represents their team at monthly support calls, updates the facilitator on their team’s progress and uses additional advice or encouragement.
How long will the programme run?
The programme will delivered over an eight month period and will begin mid-August 2021 until March 2022.
Where will the training take place?
The live QI training webinars will take place virtually via online platforms such as Microsoft Teams and other virtual platforms. The programme course work will take place in your own time within your teams.