Temple Street in partnership with the HSE Quality Improvement Division (QID) launches CASE-STUDY & TOOLKIT to guide Boards in strengthening quality of care

A new case-study and toolkit titled ‘Bringing the Board of Directors on Board with Quality and Safety of Clinical Care’ is being launched today at Temple Street Children’s University Hospital in partnership with the HSE’s QID (Quality Improvement Division).

Please see https://www.cuh.ie/who-we-are/board-directors/board-on-board/

The case study and toolkit which focuses on Temple Street’s Board of Directors, outlines how this Board has changed the way it does business, and rebalanced its agenda over a two year period to give prominence to quality of care, ensuring oversight and continuous improvement and essentially delivering on a ‘real world successful Board in action.’

Speaking on the rationale for the compilation and publication of this comprehensive and innovative text, Mona Baker, CEO, Temple Street Children’s University Hospital said “national and international inquiries into patient care present indisputable evidence that Boards that have expert and dedicated leadership at both Board and Executive level have to focus on quality and improving patient safety. We are now intent on sharing recommendations arising from this Temple Street and HSE QID case-study and toolkit with other Boards across the healthcare sector to assist in strengthening their roles in improving quality of care.”

The recommendations arising from the ‘Bringing the Board of Directors on Board with Quality and Safety of Clinical Care’ case-study and toolkit which is being launched today include the following;

• Develop a Board of Directors’ Quality Dashboard and test it over time
• Develop a Board of Directors written report and test it over time
• Present and analyse quality indicators using statistical process control methodology
• Present the written report for consideration by the Board at their monthly meeting.
• Board and project liaison researcher attends the monthly board meetings, observes the reaction of the Board discussions and reports back to the project team for the project life time
• Provide the Board with an educational session and targeted reading
• Provide the Board with a cover letter that includes instructions for each month
• Move quality and safety to the top of the board agenda and make it the first item of the meeting
• Group all items relating to quality and safety under this agenda item
• Time the discussion of all items under the quality and safety heading of the agenda
• Ask a different individual board member (or two) to comment on the Board of Directors’ Quality Dashboard each month
• Include recommendations from the Board in relation to the Quality Dashboard, in board minute action logs which are reviewed at subsequent meetings