Project team: Joanne Shawcross; Tracey Roberts Cuffin; Paul Tickner; Janet Reed
Resources required:
- Time to attend the Big Conversations, including travel.
- Clinical Librarian time to undertake literature searches.
- Access to relevant resources including HDAS and Emerald Management Collection
Timeframe:
September 2015 – April 2016 for initial project, however this will become business as usual for the library.
“The story”
UHMB Trust adopted the Listening into Action (LiA) approach to encourage and implement improvement within the organisation. The aim is to engage and empower staff to suggest and make changes that will improve services and also the experience of staff.
The scheme was launched in the Trust in September 2014. Each LiA scheme has a 20 week timeframe staring with a “Big Conversation” (BC) where all interested parties get together with a scheme sponsor. Several schemes run together in waves and at the end of each wave a “pass it on” event is held to share the achievements and lessons learned.
The library started to receive literature search requests linking to some of the LiA schemes. Without a full understanding of the area/subject being looked at it was sometimes difficult to provide comprehensive results. It was decided that if a library team member could attend all the BCs a fuller understanding of the scheme cold be gained and any questions could be asked there and then.
From September 2015 a librarian has attended the BCs whenever possible. A full picture of the scheme is gained and any areas when a literature search would be beneficial are noted. The librarian joins in the discussions and also suggests where providing evidence may help with the process.
After the event a full literature search is undertaken by a clinical librarian and provided to the LiA team and the scheme sponsor to circulate to others involved.
The library team attend the pass it on events at the end of each wave of schemes. At these events support from the library has been acknowledged in several of the scheme presentations.
Alignment to local, regional and national drivers:
Local: CQC Improvement Plan; UHMBT Quality Improvement Strategy 2016-19; Better Care Together; UHMBT Strategic Plan; Library and Knowledge Service Strategic Plan
National: NHS Efficiency; Listening into Action; Knowledge for healthcare: a development framework for NHS library and knowledge services in England 2015-2020
Impact for the organisation/customer:
The library is providing the evidence base for decision making to support change and improvement and is a key part of the improvement pathway.
Impact for the library:
This project has raised the profile of the library by reaching out to a wider user base. The library team are better known throughout the organisation and are being contacted to support staff in other areas.
Over the 9 month period a total of 23 searches taking 58.5 hours were carried out and attendance at meetings took up 28 hours of staff time.
Lessons learned :
Librarian involvement from the outset enables the clinical librarians to provide a more relevant, appropriate literature search package.
Sustainability / next steps?
The library team need to keep in touch with the LiA management team to ensure continuing involvement in the schemes from the outset.
As we increase involvement the workload will increase and therefore it is important to ensure that the library team have the capacity for the extra work involved.
Contact details: Joanne.shawcross@mbht.nhs.uk
Date case study completed: 10th May 2016
Tagged: LiA; Listening into Action; Clinical Librarians; Outreach; Improvement; Projects