Reflecting on the UKIA following our first meeting since we paused to re-configure our hosting arrangements, I have been thinking about the value of the UKIA network: the value to us as members, the value to the wider improvement landscape, and ultimately the value to patients.
In late 2015, a group of eight organisations from across the four countries of the United Kingdom came together to form the UK Improvement Alliance. These founder members came together with a shared common purpose ‘we all want better health and care for our populations’ and a shared commitment to improving health and care services and interventions.
The 12 organisations that are now part of the UK Improvement Alliance (and two supporting organisations) spent some time during the 24hr meeting last month discussing how to make this network truly valuable. We are a learning network so it seemed like a good place to start for us to really get to know each other’s organisations. Brief, powerful presentations displayed some of the range and depth of the improvement experience and expertise that is available right now in the UK. As an Alliance we aim to leverage the potential of all this for the benefit of all – from individual patients to whole nations – and along the way finding some friends, honing our knowledge and increasing our shared confidence.
One of the most striking things coming out of our time together this summer was the energy created through three completely different types of organisation learning together in the same discussion space.
This may actually be one of the defining strengths of the UKIA, and one that we should embrace as the key to our learning and innovation. Our next UKIA meeting will be on 24th November 2017 in Liverpool (the day after the Health Foundation Q national networking event). If you want to be part of the conversation get in touch.
