Safe and Effective Care
This Regional Programme was developed in 2015 to support the Social Work profession to develop
skills and knowledge in quality improvement. A small number of nursing colleagues first joined the
programme in 2018 and in 2019. The programme's scope widened to accommodate additional
numbers of nurses and social workers.
The Chief Social Work Officer Sean Holland and Chief Nursing Officer Charlotte McArdle both
supported and funded the programme which is co-ordinated and delivered by South Eastern HSC
Trust staff and commenced in February 2019. The programme closed with an awards event in
October 2019.
The overall aim of the programme is to develop and strengthen staff to become leaders by
utilising quality improvement techniques and contributing to the regional development of quality
improvement.
Each participant undertakes a quality improvement project within the timeframe of the programme
(9 months) enabling them to directly apply the new knowledge and skills acquired in practice as the
programme progresses.
A total of 18 nursing participants from all 5 Trusts, Clinical Education Centre and the Public Health
Agency completed the programme and undertook a total of 16 improvement initiatives sharing
their improvement work at a celebration event at Riddell Hall in October 2019. Each project was
presented and posters of their achievements displayed at the event.
Projects undertaken in 2019 can be viewed on PageTiger:
https://view.pagetiger.com/cqssico.
The awards event was chaired by Maria Somerville, Carer Representative on the programme
with Christine Smyth, Strategy Director for Social Work in the Department of Health welcoming
everyone with opening remarks.
Awards were presented to Social Work participants by Patricia Higgins, Interim Chief Executive
NISCC. Service User certificates were presented by Maria Sommerville and Nursing & Midwifery
awards presented by Suzanne Pullins, Head of Governance and Patient Safety (NHSCT).
The afternoon was brought to a close by Brenda Carson, Senior Lead Nurse for Patient Safety &
Quality Improvement and was attended by the Chief Nursing Officer Charlotte McArdle, QI Leads
from across the region and colleagues and managers of the participants.
Congratulations to all participants and thanks to all who helped to make the programme and
awards event a real success.
Regional Quality Improvement in Social Work,
Nursing & Midwifery Programme 2019
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