The team had a busy and energising three days in Brighton for UK Kidney Week this year, with the programme committee putting Quality Improvement in kidney care high on the agenda. There were countless sessions and work-shops (so many it felt like we were at Glastonbury!) exploring the latest tools available, highlighting QI projects being implemented, and discussing how the whole community of stakeholders – patients, industry, commissioning and professionals – can work together to initiate change and improve the quality of care for kidney patients across the UK.
It was useful to hear about the work going on on the ground, alongside the context of structural and systemic initiatives such as the Plenary on ‘A View From the Top: Kidney Care and the Long Term Plan’ (Professor Steve Powis) and the guest lecture on ‘Using Structure and finance to drive quality’ (Dr Clara Day).
Just a few of our personal highlights included:
- South East KQuIP Regional day. The first morning of UKKW19 got off to an energetic start, with the KQuIP regional half day for Southeast. Over 50 delegates joined in lively discussions about the project to implement in the region. After presentations from each of the national priorities, the region has chosen Transplant First as its project, and work will soon start on delivering the Quality Improvement education to those involved in implementation.
- The Cutting Edge of Quality Improvement – a packed session (to a packed hall!) covering the Getting it Right First Time initiative, a new quality improvement data collection tool for Transplant First, and the KQuIP ‘journey so far’ detailing the work of the partnership in establishing networks and building QI capability and leadership amongst the multi-professional work-force.
- The Fun Run – our team took to the Brighton seafront to tackle the 5k for Kidney Research UK
- A Patient Reported Experience Measure pop-up session on how units can make the most of their data. This opened out some great discussion and debate and left both the PREM delivery team, as well as the unit teams, food for thought about how we can move beyond measurement and towards improvement of patient experience.
- Electronic Patient Reported Outcomes – state of the art. This session was sharing how technology could support the collection and use of patient reported outcomes into everyday practice, through the use of electronic patient records, PatientView and other new technology.
- The gala dinner – of course! Fabulous 1920s theme with excellent glamour, dancing and décor – thank you to the organisers.
- The launch of the National Standards for Patients Receiving Dialysis Transport Report from Kidney Care UK and The Renal Association. A long awaited and much needed call to action for all service providers to absorb. The report is a result of over a year’s consultation with commissioners, patients, service providers and charities – read it here.
- The many posters full of new and innovative ideas and work, including the TP2 programme…
- And finally, the crèche – an important and successful development that made a huge difference to delegates with young children.
See you next year!