Quality improvement: through the lens of a doctor and product manager
Dr Ben Herring,
GP and Product Manager at Locum’s Nest
As a practising Doctor and a Product Manager at Locum's Nest, I’ve been fortunate to blend my medical background with technology to drive quality improvement initiatives within the NHS. In this article, I reflect on that journey, touching on some lessons learnt around overcoming challenges and resistance to change. As we continue to embrace quality improvement and how it could come from anyone and anywhere, we step closer to a healthcare space that continuously evolves, innovates, and prioritises the well-being of its patients and healthcare professionals alike.
Merging medicine and technology
My journey began in 2009 when I graduated as a doctor, filled with passion and the desire to make a meaningful impact in healthcare. Over the years, I travelled and trained around the world, growing as a medical professional and eventually becoming a General Practitioner. Yet, as I delved deeper into general practice, I couldn't shake off a growing sense of disillusionment with its trajectory.
And so, fate had other plans for me as I came across Locum's Nest. Their vision captured my attention so I applied to join the team and soon found myself in an all-hands-on-deck role! I initially wore many hats, working across various departments. As the company grew, so did my role, evolving into a more defined operations position. My deep understanding of the product and our customers, along with my skill-set, led to my current role as Product Manager at Locum’s Nest.
Quality improvement in medicine and product development: A two-way street
As a doctor turned product manager, my medical background had a profound impact on how I approached quality improvement within Locum’s Nest. In medicine, we are trained to question everything and consistently seek improvements to enhance patient care. These principles naturally translated into the product management realm at Locum’s Nest. As a team, we continue to push ourselves to offer the best array of features to our customers. We use industry standards and data in our system to see where we are doing well, where we could improve and follow this up to make sure it happens.
Conversely, being a product manager at Locum’s Nest has broadened my perspective as a doctor, especially when it comes to listening to feedback. There's a remarkable crossover between these two worlds!
Product management: A balancing act
We have several sets of people to consider at Locum’s Nest. For example, NHS management, our web app users (Rota coordinators, Hospital managers, etc) and mobile app users (Healthcare professionals), all of whom have different views on what they want to see from the platform. How do we balance that? We engage with all of these stakeholders regularly, to ensure we have a good understanding of what they want, and need, to see.
We also have our goals and aspirations as a team; to continue to be bold and do things differently for the benefit of our partner organisations and the wider NHS. So as different teams, we frequently meet to prioritise projects, whether it's introducing new features, enhancing existing ones, or resolving any issues. Our focus remains firmly on how we can provide the most significant benefits to users while considering what we have available to us at the centre of our focus is how we can benefit the user most, within the boundaries of the resources we have - very similar to healthcare!
Overcoming challenges and resistance to change
In any journey of progress, challenges are inevitable. As Locum’s Nest was still gaining traction at the very beginning of our journey, resistance to change was a significant hurdle. We faced scepticism and a lack of case studies to showcase the potential of our product. To overcome these barriers, we had to be persistent, seeking out visionary individuals who shared our belief in how technology could elevate the NHS. Gathering data and evidence of Locum Nest’s positive impact became crucial in building trust and opening doors for improvement.
Furthermore, in my current role, I encounter customer suggestions that sometimes are based on the way they ‘used to do’ something. People tend to cling to familiar practices, even if a more effective solution is available. Addressing these situations involves going back to the source of their problem and working collaboratively with users from there.
What story does the data tell?
Data is the bedrock of our quality improvement journey as a team. We work closely with partner organisations to align with their goals, using metrics as our guiding compass. By implementing features and analysing the resulting data, we map our impact and identify opportunities for enhancement. For instance, we closely monitor fill rates of shifts before and after joining a collaborative bank, or the bank spend after introducing rate violation rules.
Moreover, our platform's wealth of data enables us to identify trends and anomalies, empowering us to proactively address potential areas for improvement. With data-driven strategies, we can have meaningful discussions with our partners, driving positive change with every decision. Quality improvement is really an ongoing process and it could come from anywhere!
Some lessons learned on the way
I think one of the biggest lessons learned along my journey has been:
Make a very clear goal at the start and never lose focus of that. Quality improvement is not always easy, as not everybody shares the same vision, but if you are sure an initiative will make a positive difference then be tenacious.
The most meaningful pieces of QI are not done alone. Involve your colleagues and tap into the knowledge and influence of others around you.
As I reflect on the future of quality improvement in the NHS and the broader healthcare landscape, I am filled with excitement. With healthcare increasingly embracing digital innovations and pioneering health technologies, we will have an abundance of easily accessible data at our fingertips. Leveraging this wealth of information and advanced analytics will undoubtedly propel us towards even more rapid rates of improvement.
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If you happen to be Locum's Nest user and need an accredited audit or Quality Improvement Project, we might be able to help, so get in touch by emailing meena@locumsnest.co.uk.
If you’re not a user, but still an interested healthcare professional who wants to learn more about our app and how to use it to book shifts, check out our website.