Information Guide for Authors

This information guide will support you to enter the NHS Wales Awards 2017. Please read all the information.

Deadline for entries: 5.00pm Friday 31 March 2017

The NHS Wales Awards are organised by the 1000 Lives Improvement service in Public Health Wales

www.nhswalesawards.wales.nhs.uk | https://twitter.com/nhswalesawards

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Table of contents What are the NHS Wales Awards? ................................................................ 3

NHS Wales Awards 2017 categories ............................................................. 4

Judging the entries ..................................................................................... 6

How to write a successful entry ................................................................... 7

Who can enter? ......................................................................................... 9

How to enter ............................................................................................. 9

How to enter the ‘Students improving patient safety and quality’ category ........ 9

Submitting your completed entry online ...................................................... 10

Rules ...................................................................................................... 11

Remember .............................................................................................. 11

Timeline: 2017 ........................................................................................ 11

Questions? .............................................................................................. 12

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What are the NHS Wales Awards? The NHS Wales Awards are a national showcase for excellence and celebrate good practice in delivering improved, high quality patient care across Wales. The Awards were launched in 2008 to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the NHS. Now in its tenth year, the NHS Wales Awards are open to teams and organisations, with the aim of uncovering, acknowledging and celebrating good practice that has helped to transform patient care. This year there are eight categories in the NHS Wales Awards – in addition there will be a category for prudent healthcare where the winner is chosen from the finalists of the other eight categories. Each category has an independent judging panel who will judge all the entries in that particular category. In the first round of judging, the panel will score all entries and shortlist three to go through to the second round of judging which takes place as a site visit. If your entry is shortlisted, you will be asked to:

• host a 2 hour site visit to enable the judging panel to find out more about your entry (the availability of the judges will determine the date of the visit). At the visit, the judges will ask additional questions and you will have the opportunity to provide further information

• provide high quality images to illustrate your entry which can be used in publicity material

• provide quotes and any other information needed for press releases

• agree to attend the NHS Wales Awards ceremony (date to be confirmed)

You may also be asked to share your project through learning events. The judging panels use the information gained from the entry and the site visit to select the winner for their category. Winners will be announced at the NHS Wales Awards 2017 ceremony. The winner in each category will receive a trophy and a certificate. The NHS Wales Awards are organised by the 1000 Lives Improvement service which is part of Public Health Wales.

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NHS Wales Awards 2017 Categories Citizens at the Centre of Service Redesign and Delivery

Submissions for this category should demonstrate the involvement of patients and the public in the planning and delivery of services. Entries should also clearly identify the mechanisms that were used to involve and engage citizens as well as highlighting how that involvement has shaped and designed, or redesigned, service provision. Developing a Flexible and Sustainable Workforce Submissions to this category should look at how the workforce has been developed to meet an identifiable need and demonstrate how staff work together, work differently and work flexibly. Entries may consider how staff have changed roles and taken on new areas of responsibility or look at initiatives which have been implemented in response to feedback from patients and service users. Improving Health and Wellbeing and Reducing Health Inequalities Submissions to this category should demonstrate a clear strategy with identified outcomes to improve health and wellbeing and reduce health inequalities for people in Wales ideally linking to the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2016. Improving Patient Safety Submissions to this category should highlight and champion service redesign or safety initiatives which prevent or measurably reduces unintended harm which can occur during care (usually harm to patients). Improving Quality Using IQT Methodology Submissions to this category should focus on achieving quality services by using the Improving Quality Together (IQT) methodology. IQT uses the Model for Improvement and your entry should demonstrate your real-life application and testing of quality improvement methodology. You may have completed IQT Silver in which case you can adapt your project report for the Awards or you might not have submitted your project so this is an ideal opportunity to use the Awards as the first step to writing your project report.

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Promoting Clinical Research and Application to Practice Submissions to this category should be examples of where a service has been improved by linking academic expertise with NHS clinical practice and which demonstrates complementary linkage of skills from the two sectors. Students Improving Patient Safety and Quality Submissions to this category should be from individual undergraduate students or a group of undergraduate students who have identified and implemented a change in practice to improve patient care. Working Seamlessly Across Organisations Submissions to this category should demonstrate positive change and show how strong working across organisational boundaries can deliver improved patient care.Submissions must demonstrate strong partnerships between the health service and other organisations such as other public or voluntary sector organisations. Outstanding Contribution to Prudent Healthcare This category cannot be entered directly. The winner will be chosen by a judging panel from the eight category winners.

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Judging the entries All entries must be submitted online using the NHS Wales Awards 2017 entry form available here: www.eventsforce.net/nhsawards17 The online entry form consists of six sections and you will need to follow the guidance given for each section. The judges will use this as their criteria to assess your storyboard. 1. What are you trying to accomplish? Give a brief outline of the problem and the aim of the project.

2. How will you know that a change is an improvement?

What measures are being used to assess any improvement? What was your baseline?

3. What changes can you make that will result in improvement? What was the strategy for change and how did you test this? Describe any Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles.

4. What are the effects of the changes you have made? Include any graphs or run charts showing the effects.

5. Lessons learnt: What would be done differently next time? Do you have any messages for others based on the experience described?

6. Please summarise how your entry reflects each principle of prudent healthcare: you can find out more about prudent healthcare at http://www.prudenthealthcare.org.uk/

• Public and professionals are equal partners through co-production • Care for those with the greatest health need first • Do only what is needed and do no harm • Reduce inappropriate variation through evidence-based approaches

Before submitting your entry, please check - have you answered each section and given the information requested?

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How to write a successful entry Has your work improved patient care and/or the working environment? If yes, have you got the evidence to support this? If the evidence is not yet available, you may wish to wait and enter the Awards when you have collected and analysed the supporting evidence. You may even make more changes and further improvements as a result. The Awards are held annually so there is always next year. Model for Improvement All the judges agree that the highest quality submissions for the NHS Wales Awards have addressed a known and quantified problem and followed the Model for Improvement. These submissions have included thorough work to:

• analyse and understand the factors which increase the likelihood of the problem

• put in place measures to address the problem • measure those measures • demonstrate a real and sustainable impact on the incidence of the

problem The Model asks three questions which are then used with small scale testing - the 'doing component' known as Plan, Do, Study, Act (PDSA) cycles. The Model is equally applicable to qualitative and quantitative work.

The Model for Improvement

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The questions asked by the Model for Improvement: What are we trying to accomplish? Any improvement work must start with a clear idea of the problem. A common fault with unsuccessful entries and indeed unsuccessful improvement work is that they simply attempt to introduce a ‘solution’. Without a clear idea of the problem which is to be addressed, it is impossible to know if the solution works or how to adapt it for the new setting. It is often said that today’s problems are yesterday’s solutions. This is a sign that a new system has been started but the benefits are no longer evident – were they ever clear? How will we know that a change is an improvement? Measurement is key to all improvement work. It is not always possible to measure outcomes, at least in the first instance. It is always possible to design simple process checks so that it is possible to test whether the improvement is being implemented effectively. The outcome data may follow but, beware, it is not always possible to show causality – that is, if the process was implemented and the outcome improved it cannot be said that the process change caused the improvement. This is a result of the fact that we operate in real-life, complex conditions and not in an experiment where all other variables are controlled. The important thing is that the right thing has been done, it has been shown to be implemented and there is an overall improvement. Some improvements are easier to measure than others. If data is not readily available on I.T. systems then small audits or checks of paper records may be sufficient. If data collection is time consuming then small samples are often acceptable, especially if they are plotted as a time series using a run chart. Nothing gladdens the heart of a judge like a run chart. If the issue you are trying to improve is not regularly measured then try qualitative techniques. Likert scales and other scoring techniques are all legitimate ways of summarising and comparing qualitative data. There is a difference between measurement for improvement work and some of the other uses we have for measurement, like research or performance management. Improvement measures must be honest and they do not have the same stringent requirement as formal research. What change can we make that will result in improvement? This will rely on two things. The first is some analysis of the problem so that the improvement strategy can be designed. This might rely upon techniques like process mapping, Pareto plots, or interviews with patients or affected staff. It will also require some research of what works elsewhere – either by looking at the literature, checking databases of innovations and improvement, or both.

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Who can enter? Entry is free to anyone working in NHS Wales – clinical and non-clinical staff are all welcome to submit entries. We also have a special category for healthcare students. Please note, all entries must be submitted by NHS employees - where an entry is in partnership with patient interest groups or public sector partners, the NHS partner should submit the entry. How to enter Students – please go to the next section. You will need to complete your entry online at: www.eventsforce.net/nhsawards17 Please note that we no longer accept the Word document version that was available in previous years. You must also include a high quality photo illustrating your entry which may be used in publicity material. This should be a photo of the work in action or of patients/service users receiving the service. Team photos should be avoided. N.B. Please ensure that you have documented consent in accordance with your organisation’s policy. You can submit multiple entries but each entry can only be entered into one category. It is up to you to decide which category is most suitable for each entry. Make sure you have agreement from any co-authors before submitting the entry. One of your NHS Wales Executive Directors must agree and sign off your entry before it is submitted (you will be asked to confirm this when submitting your entry). Please check whether your organisation has an internal process for authorising entries and any associated deadlines. How to enter the ‘Students improving patient safety and quality’ category You will need to complete the entry online at: www.eventsforce.net/nhsawards17 Please note that we no longer accept the Word document version that was available in previous years.

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You can submit multiple entries into the student category and entries can be from individual or groups. You must be a healthcare student currently enrolled at a university in Wales and should gain approval for your entry from your university tutor or placement mentor Submitting your completed entry online

• Draft your entry using word processing software under the following headings:

o Title

o What are you trying to accomplish? Give a brief outline of the problem and the aim of the project.

o How will you know that a change is an improvement? What measures are being used to assess any improvement? What was your baseline?

o What changes did you make to result in improvement? What was the strategy for change and how did you test this? Describe any Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) cycles.

o What are the effects of the changes you have made? Include any graphs or run charts showing the effects.

o Lessons learnt: What would be done differently next time? Do you have any messages for others based on the experience described?

o Please summarise how your entry reflects each principle of prudent healthcare: you can find out more about prudent healthcare at http://www.prudenthealthcare.org.uk/

• Ensure you follow your organisation’s internal process for obtaining Executive Director approval for your entry

• Go to the online conference management system at www.eventsforce.net/nhsawards17

• Click on Submit your entry here on the menu.

• If you have not used the system before, click on ‘create your account here’ and register. If you are already registered, enter your login details.

• Select the Topic you wish to enter and click ‘Add’. Follow the instructions on the screen.

• Complete the details on the form, confirm you have approval from your Executive Director (or university tutor if you are a student), complete all the author details and submit your entry along with any attachments and photographs.

• Repeat if you have multiple entries.

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Please note that the website will automatically save your entry as you complete the form. Rules

• The total word limit for entries is 1500 words including references.

• Entries will not be accepted which exceed the word limit. There is no word limit for individual sections within the form.

• Graphs, images and tables are allowed and will not be included in the word count. But it is important to remember they should be used with care and are not a substitute for written words.

• Entries can be made in English or Welsh.

• At least one author per entry must be available to attend the Awards Ceremony if shortlisted.

• Shortlisted and winning submissions will be published on the NHS Wales Awards website and information will be included in a variety of media including press releases.

• Video and photographs will be taken at the NHS Wales Awards ceremony and will be used on our websites.

• The decision of the judging panel is final.

• All entries must be received by 5.00pm Friday 31 March 2017.

• It is an expectation that if you are shortlisted , that a representative from the NHS Wales Awards team will be in touch within 6 months after the Awards to check on progress and to explore how you intend to share this work across your organisation and the wider healthcare/public sector.

Remember

• Your entry represents and reflects you, your colleagues and your organisation.

• Your entry will be read by other professionals from different backgrounds, not just healthcare.

• Your entry will be made public and possibly posted on external websites and in the media for everyone to see.

Timeline: 2017 8 February 2017 – Launch of NHS Wales Awards 2016 31 March 2017 – Deadline for entry submission April 2017 – Shortlisting and notification of finalists

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May-July 2017 – Judging visits to finalists take place September 2017 – NHS Wales Awards Ceremony Questions? If you have any questions, please contact: Karen Field, NHS Wales Awards Manager Tel: 029 2010 4355 | Email: karen.field@wales.nhs.uk Victoria Evans-Park, NHS Wales Awards Officer Tel: 029 2010 4374 | Email: victoria.evans-park@wales.nhs.uk