How did you get started in quality improvement/what inspired you?

After studying biology and healthcare research at university, I always knew I wanted to work in the NHS and help people. However, it wasn’t until I did the NHS graduate management training scheme that I understood how I could best use my skills. I was inspired to work in Quality Improvement as I knew I could use my skills and expertise to make services safer, more effective, and better to work in.

My current role is improving quality of the radiotherapy services throughout the North East and North Cumbria, and working with local teams to improve access to cancer treatment. This includes improving patient information and increasing access to radiotherapy clinical trials.

Can you tell us about any recent QI projects that you have been working on?

One recent and exciting project I am responsible for is increasing access to radiotherapy clinical trials. Analysis I did last year highlighted that the demographics of people participating in research in radiotherapy did not represent our wider patient population. Access to research was shown to be unequal. This is important as the findings of the research are therefore less relevant to certain patient groups.

We also saw that understanding and awareness of research, and public perceptions of clinical trials in general, was a key barrier that was stopping people from participating in research.

After speaking to patient groups, we were told that patient information videos would be a good way to raise awareness of clinical trials in research. This was great as the Northern Radiotherapy Network already has a broad range of professionally filmed patient information videos (Videos (northernradiotherapynetwork.nhs.uk)). We were keen to develop a new video about research in radiotherapy with this information.

We also knew that representation and diversity is important to these videos, so we have been involving a diverse range of patients and people who have been part of two focus groups so far. We are well underway with filming both a patient information video, and patient case study videos. We are recruiting a wide range of patients who have taken part in radiotherapy research to show that people of all ages, genders and backgrounds can - and do - take part in research.

We are undertaking this work on behalf of all other radiotherapy Networks in England, and we are really proud to be raising awareness of radiotherapy and research at a national level.

What training and support have you found most valuable in your role?

I recently successfully completed the Improvement Coaching Programme offered by the Newcastle Improvement team, based at Newcastle Hospitals. This has been invaluable both in my own work, and when enabling local teams to lead their own quality improvement initiatives. I really enjoy coaching and supporting colleagues to develop their own skills.

I am supported by a fantastic range of staff at each radiotherapy centre, and by the wonderful team at the Radiotherapy Network itself. As a very multi-disciplinary specialty, this work wouldn’t have been possible without the support and guidance from the local teams.

Which organisations/networks do you mainly work with?

My role with the Radiotherapy Network is inherently multi-organisation and multi-disciplinary, as we cover the three radiotherapy sites – and two providers – in the region.

More recently, I have been working with colleagues from a larger range of hospital trusts in the region to understand and improve how we get information about radiotherapy to patients at the right time.

Similarly, the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) has been a big supporter of our work to increase access to research in radiotherapy, and have been able to provide strategic, financial and business intelligence input into our work.

Finally, we have been working with local and national cancer charities and voluntary organisations to understand specific barriers to participating in research. This is a new area for us, and these new relationships have been both productive and enlightening.