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Research and evaluation
Working in partnership to achieve high-quality diabetes care
April 2010 to October 2011
Background
Leading Change is an NHS Diabetes programme which takes a systematic approach to achieving better quality care. The programme aims to improve the quality, productivity and performance required to significantly improve care. It also gives people with diabetes a voice and harnesses clinical leadership. Leading Change is about making it easier for local health communities to put into practice national and regional guidance.
The Leading Change process consists of four distinct stages (link to flow), starting with ‘Diagnostic Review and Prioritisation’, during which we work closely with NHS Trusts to conduct a Health Needs Assessment (HNA) to help identify and prioritise any needs for service change. This stage aims to ensure that all decisions are evidence based. Once a priority area has been identified, NHS Diabetes works with the Trust to identify key decision makers and stakeholders, and to bring them together to examine the data, and challenge the current service pathways, at a ‘Leading Change event’. During a Leading Change event delegates have the opportunity to compare their current service pathway with an evidence based pathway from the NHS Diabetes Commissioning Guides, and to consider how and why their service differs. At the end of the event, the aim is to have agreement for the new service pathway, enabling the Trust to move on to the ‘Implementation’ stage.
Aim of the evaluation
- Ensure evidence based decision making occurs throughout Leading Change.
- Ensure service user involvement occurs.
- Ensure appropriate key performance measures are adopted and baselined.
- Collate and summarise the success stories resulting from participating in the Leading Change programme, to promote the value of the programme.
Methodology
NHS Diabetes have developed an evaluation framework, consisting of a series of templates to be competed at the different Leading Change stages. The templates aim to ensure that a systematic approach is followed, which focuses on the data available, and the opinions of patients who use the services. The templates enable the Trust to capture key performance measures, along with baseline data that will enable them to prove and quantify the increased quality and productivity as a result of service redesign.
Outcomes
The Leading Change programme has been used effectively across England, in a variety of settings, to enable a systematic evidence based approach to service redesign. Examples of how the approach has been successful are provided in a series of success stories case studies.
