A new website has been launched to encourage NHS employees to share their ideas for how health and care services can be improved and enhanced.
Health market commentator, Roy Lilley, has set up The Academy of Fabulous Stuff to act as a repository for best practice from across the UK.
He explained: “For as long as I can remember I have been dreaming of a time when all the good things, ideas, innovations and concepts, that are the backbone of the NHS, could be shared. The Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff is proof that dreams can come true.
“The NHS is full of enthusiastic, clever, keen, passionate people with a strong sense of vocation. They want to do the right thing and to do things right. The academy is the place to share ideas about doing it right, boast about the good stuff and, if you have a problem, the place to search for an answer.
“The NHS is so much better than it gets credit for, is so much more efficient than people think, and is keen to share, be collegiate, find the good stuff, and pass it on.
“I want to make the academy the first port of call to show off, to make us proud, and to put a smile on the faces of the people working right across the NHS.
“If you have a problem, you can bet someone else is facing the same challenge and you can almost guarantee that, somewhere in the NHS, somebody has an idea or a solution that will help.
“The academy will only work if we share the good stuff and I’m guessing we want to. The ideas don’t have to be huge and service wide. They can be local and niche, but if they have worked for you, you can bet they will work for someone else.
“The Academy of Fabulous NHS Stuff is an opportunity to turn dreams into action.”
The website is fully searchable under a number of key headings, such as clinical guidelines, end-of-life care, infection control, music therapy, and patient empowerment . Visitors can also add their own content of up to 500 words and three images of their bright ideas.
Examples of current content added since the launch of the site just a few weeks ago include:
- The Safer Patient Flow Bundle: A set of simple rules that if followed routinely will help to improve patient flow, patient experience and reduce length of stay across adult inpatient wards in acute hospitals
- Go-with-the-Flow is a student-driven wearable Smartphone app that senses movement and related physiological processes and transforms these into sound. It is aimed at supporting people suffering from chronic pain, helping them to manage their condition
- A new infection prevention and control training tool for use in dementia care homes which has led to a 100% reduction in outbreaks of infection
- The BAPEN Nutritional Care Tool, which offers a unique opportunity to support local organisations in measuring and evidencing their nutritional improvement work in high-priority areas such as elderly and dementia care
- The Mindfulness for Staff Project, designed by Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust to improve the health and wellbeing of staff
- The Positive Outlook Programme, developed by Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust to provide support and education for people with dementia and their carers
To find out more, or to submit your bright ideas, click here.