National Theatre Quality Improvement Programme (TQIP) Ireland

Abstract

In late 2016, a collaborative between the HSE Integrated Care Programme for Patient Flow, National Clinical Programme for Anaesthesia (NCPA), National Clinical Programme in Surgery (NCPS), supported by the HSE Quality Improvement division and the RCSI’s Quality & Process Improvement Centre (QPIC) was established to oversee a sustainable theatre quality improvement programme.

Building on the learning from the experience of introducing The Productive Operating Theatre (TPOT) in Ireland, TQIP aims to support hospitals and multidisciplinary perioperative teams who are committed to quality and process improvement to deliver sustainable improvements in: patient experience and outcomes; safety, quality & reliability of care; improved team effectiveness and staff wellbeing; value and improved efficiency; organisational Quality Improvement (QI) capability, enabling a culture of continuous improvement.

Implementation of the programme at scale will improve patient flow and value for money through improved theatre efficiency (e.g. reduction in delays in start times, improved utilisation, reduced over runs and inventory costs), increased capability in the application of quality improvement tools with perioperative teams in the selected sites and increased uptake in other hospitals through demonstrated improvements in waiting lists and performance metrics. Furthermore a central repository and QI knowledge sharing network for perioperative teams will be developed including HSE Perioperative Teams certified in QI methodologies following an accredited programme.

The Programme Governance and team have been established and agreement reached on a programme plan. The programme includes a QI training programme for perioperative teams in selected sites and on-going support from the QPIC Quality Improvement Advisors and Nurse Leads. Site selection is based on agreed readiness assessment criteria. Outcome measures will be specific to projects in sites but a target of 10% theatre efficiency improvement is expected by the end of year 1. Two sites, one of which has already begun introducing TPOT, and a new site have been identified as pioneers for the new programme. Specific projects in both sites will be agreed and commenced in early 2017. Early results are expected in the next 6-12 months.