The 22nd of May 2024 saw London host the LOOP face to face meeting. Although the weather was bleak and initial issues regarding tea, coffee and timings looked like they were going to hinder the day, this was not the case at all.
The meeting was well attended with over 45 heads and leads of service from across the BIOS membership in attendance. The meeting consisted of 9 speakers covering a range of topics around the theme of quality improvement.
The day kicked off with Helen Rogers and Andrew Fox. Andrew gave a very informative talk about the work force survey. He focused on the upcoming updates and as a group we discussed what information was and was not required from it. Helen demonstrated how at her trust they have established a very well put together process of employment for a band 5 /6 run through. This generated a lot of good discussion and highlighted the considerations needed when trying to implement this in other departments, the benefits it can bring and how the information from the survey can be utilised to achieve this result.
The pre lunch session was presented by Connor Beddows. Connor brings with him a wealth of knowledge related to quality improvement having worked in the field for several years. Connor provided a great insight into QI, the theories that underpin it, the reasons for it and its application. He provided us with several excellent worked examples, a plethora of tools to undertake QI and showed what is possible. This was a very well received presentation and opened a lot of discussion, that can be taken back to individual departments.
The afternoon session focused on talks by Sonia Macdiarmid, Asha Sharma, Tomos Harding-Neale, Joe Smith, Helen Haggerty and Sonia Macdiarmid (on behalf of Judith Gray) All the presentations showcased the excellent, innovative work that is being undertaken across the nations. The speakers asked questions of the audience and made us explore the boundaries of our own work and areas we can develop.
With a focus on audit, innovation, changing the delivery of stroke, virtual review clinics, questioning the “normal” and failsafe, all 6 presenters created discussion topics, intrigue and excitement.
The meeting achieved its goals of sharing knowledge and learning. I hope heads and leads of service have lots of take-home information that can be shared with their teams and further development can take place.
Thank you to all the organisers, speakers and especially Kelly McKenzie and Eleanor Burley for all their help and assistance. A special thank you to all the delegates that travelled to join us for the event. We hope that you enjoyed your time with us and look forward to seeing you at future meetings.
Best wishes
The LOOP committee
