What is EQUIP?

EQUIP is a quality improvement programme designed for general practice in North East London, which endeavours to make it “the best place to work and receive care in the country”.

Our aim is to empower all practice staff to make sustainable operational improvements on an ongoing basis which will have a tangible positive impact on both the lives of professionals delivering care, and on the care and experience of their patients. We do this by:

  • Using an evidence based quality improvement methodology
  • Using live operational data in practices to identify opportunities for improvement and track the impact of change projects
  • Delivering weekly quality improvement coaching to practices
  • Training practice teams to understand and lead quality improvement
  • Using cross practice collaboratives to address challenging themes e.g. access, online access, new patient registration…

EQUIP On A Page

EQUIP delivery

We provide comprehensive support (see figure below) to practices in exchange for a strong commitment from them. All 36 practices in the borough have been invited to join the programme – but never forced – as its success relies strongly on each practice’s leadership and readiness to change.

The QI work is initially kicked off in practices with a “data wall session” – an in depth view of the practice from multiple perspectives. These include data from various sources. We organise this information using the 5-P framework, a tested analytical method that focuses on Purpose, Patients, Professionals, Processes and Patterns. The objective of this is to have a comprehensive and systematic assessment of each practice as a “system”, engage all members of the organisation, and identify strengths and opportunities based on the 5-P assessment.

Following this initial work, practices are supported with a weekly coaching session to help them through the steps of the QI Methodology, based on the IHI improvement journey. This QI methodology follows five stages, deploying different tools and techniques to deliver sustainable change: