Advanced Improvement in Quality and Safety

NHS Institute promotes quality improvement with accreditation

The former NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement wanted to add value and kudos to its high-level quality improvement and safety programme and felt accreditation was the answer. 

Their brief

Following a successful accreditation of the Patient Safety Leader course, the NHS Institute approached us again to help enhance and accredit the Advanced Improvement for Quality and Safety programme (AIQS), so that it offered a more compelling professional development opportunity.

The aim of AIQS was to develop expertise in quality improvement and safety within the NHS. 
It was to be the main training offered to a select group of high-level professionals, responsible for cascading improvement capability to frontline staff. 

This group included directors/assistant directors of nursing, clinical quality managers, and heads of service or transformation.

Our solution

Working closely with the Institute, the programme was put through our rigorous quality assurance process, which included:

• Looking closely at course materials to determine the higher education level and number of credits.
• Advising on delivery approach, assessment strategy and how learning could be related back to the workplace. For example, we added a work-based project, so that participants could implement an improvement scheme, bringing real changes to their organisation.
• Acting as moderator – second-marking assignments and managing the independent scrutiny of assessment marks by an external examiner.   

The final programme was accredited as a Level 7 qualification (postgraduate) worth 60 credits. It was a year in length and consisted of three modules:

• Improvement Leader
• Improvement Tutor
• Improvement Expertise for Quality and Safety – Work Based Project

The material was delivered through four residential sessions, which included lectures, tutorials and private study, as well as webinars. 

Due to the changing nature of healthcare, contributions from leading experts ensured the programme remained current.

Personal development and reflective activities were also central to the programme, enabling learners to hone skills and acquire attributes that would help them introduce improvement methodology within a range of contexts.

"AIQS aimed to both support and challenge participants to learn, share and do things differently. It has allowed me to network and collaborate with individuals of high calibre who are very committed to learning and to making improvements in healthcare. It brought together keen students, open and generous lecturers, and a complete academic programme which took best practice from the UK and also internationally."

Senai Jiménez García, former student

Find out more

See our tailored programme and accreditation services, or contact us on 0800 678 3311 or at businesshub@derby.ac.uk for further information.