Four staff have shown their “ScIL” by successfully completing a quality improvement course.

The Scottish Improvement Leader (ScIL) programme is a lead-level quality improvement (QI) programme developed by NHS Education for Scotland (NES) in partnership with the Scottish Government.

ScIL aims to develop people to lead large-scale improvement projects within their organisation as well as coach, support and teach others in their improvement work.

The new NHS Lanarkshire graduates are Joe Hands and Maria Ferguson, both clinical quality team managers, Jonathan O’Reilly, patient safety improvement advisor, and Scott Purdie, clinical quality co-ordinator.

Jonathan said participating on the programme was “a fantastic experience”.

He explained: “I’d say it was the best learning experience of my life so far. The programme not only taught me new skills, but it gave me the confidence required in my role as an improvement advisor to talk with authority on improvement science.

“I also made 30 new friends and feel part of a bigger network that I can call on when I need a bit of help.”

Scott, who’s based at Wishaw General Hospital, said: “I’ve been able to apply the skills I’ve been developing on a daily basis, thanks to the support of NHS Lanarkshire and the Early Years Collaborative, which is the QI programme that aims to make Scotland the best place in the world for children to grow up.

“I’ve now delivered QI training to health and council staff as part of the collaborative and been involved in a project to increase the distribution of healthy-start vitamins to pregnant women.”

Joe added: “The key points for me were learning about the importance of culture in QI, relationships and how to use and interpret data to drive improvement.

“I’ve now been able to support QI projects within person-centred care and it has given me the confidence to continually discuss QI to embed this within the organisation by building capacity and capability in our staff.”

Maria, based at Monklands, said she felt privileged to have been part of the first cohort of the ScIL programme. 

She said: “It was a fantastic learning experience which has allowed me to gain an in-depth knowledge of quality improvement concepts and the ability to apply QI tools, techniques and methods.”

Jane Murkin, head of patient safety and improvement/acting head of clinical governance and risk management, said: “We were delighted to have secured places for four staff on the first cohort of this programme and we have since had an additional six members of staff accepted onto subsequent programmes that are currently underway. 

“We must ensure that we maximise the skills, experience and potential of these individuals and provide them with a network of support and mentoring to allow them to continue to develop and build confidence in applying their learning.”

NES hope to continue to deliver additional cohorts of the ScIL programme and NHS Lanarkshire has developed will support applicants and their managers through this process, including review and feedback on applications, co-ordination of submission to NES and mentoring support throughout the programme.

Potential future applicants and their managers are invited to contact Stacey Rooney, clinical quality manager in the first instance to discuss their interest and preparation in advance of any future programmes being advertised. This is a lead-level programme and it is recommended that applicants already have, as a minimum, a sound foundation-level understanding of QI through participation in a practitioner-level programme such as Scottish Improvement Skills or a similar alternative.

NHS Lanarkshire has identified the need to continue to build capacity and capability in QI at all levels in order to continue to make real improvements in quality and safety for patients. A QI Capacity and Capability Plan was developed in 2014 and sets out an approach and a range of activities that will enable us to build this across the organisation.