NHS England seeks parents to work with the Quality Surveillance Team

Did you know that you, as a parent can join a team who work to help maintain and improve neonatal care in our hospitals?

The Quality Surveillance Teamfor NHS England is about to embark on a national peer review visit cycle commencing in Autumn of 2017 to review all neonatal care units across England against nationally agreed quality indicators. The aims of the quality surveillance peer review visit programmeare:

  • To ensure services are as safe as possible
  • To improve the quality and effectiveness of care
  • To improve the patient and carer experience
  • To undertake independent, fair reviews of services
  • To provide development and learning for all involved
  • To encourage the dissemination of good practice and significant achievements.

NHS England is calling for parentsand carerswho have used its special care unit, local neonatal unit or neonatal critical care unit to join a team of reviewers including, nurses and managers. The team of reviewers, supported by staff from NHS England’s Quality Surveillance Team, will undertake visits to hospitals to assess the quality of care being delivered and identify and accelerate the spread of good practice across the NHS. Participating in the review would involve the following:

  • Attend a one day training event – mid week, weekend orafternoon dates available which are regionally based
  • Half day preparation before the review visit (reading documents and preparing lines of enquiry)
  • Undertake at least one peer review visit at a hospital site in which your baby did not receive care
  • Visit day usually starts at 9am and finishes at 5 pm
  • Approximately one and a half hours post visit to check accuracy of report.

All reasonable travel, carers and support costs to attend the training day and peer review visits can be reclaimed or train tickets can be booked through the Quality Surveillance Team in advance, if necessary. Overnight accommodation can also be booked and paid for by the Quality Surveillance Programme in advance of the review visit, if travelling distances permits. Service users are also eligible to claim an honorarium payment of £150.00 for attending a peer review visit.

If you think this is for you then please complete the attached application form and we will be in contact to arrange for you to attend one of our training sessions. Attending the training event will enable both you and the Quality Surveillance Teamto make an informed decision as to whether participating in the peer review process as a reviewer is the right thing for you;it does not commit you to further involvement. In the meantime, if you require further information please do not hesitate to contact or 07917 154205 or on 07730 375585.