Page 20 - Experience Based Co-design - a toolkit for Australia

Set up for success
Many improvement projects are not sustained. The sustainability may be improved by understanding the factors that contribute to success, and then planning and investing effort into optimising those factors. The NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement developed a sustainability tool for improvement projects which identified three groups of factors that contribute to sustainability.
Process factors
real or perceived benefits beyond helping patients credibility of evidence for the change
adaptability of the improved process
effectiveness of the system to monitor progress
Staff factors
staff involvement and training to sustain the process staff behaviours towards sustaining change engagement by senior and clinical leaders
Organisation factors
fit with the organisation’s strategic aims and culture
the existence of infrastructure for sustaining change
In a New Zealand analysis1 of EBCD projects (Partners in Care) authors found relevance and applicability between the categories from the Sustainability Model and the sustainability requirements of EBCD projects. The following ideas were reported to support sustainability:
Promoting the projects and increasing visibility of the work and patient voices within healthcare services to support cultural change around consumer voices
Disseminating skills more widely across healthcare systems by creating opportunities for experiential learning, or learning through observation with new co-design projects
Building ‘people power’ through engagement with students, volunteers or others who could be involved in projects
Increasing buy-in from sponsors or other senior leaders to enable or endorse (i) patients engagement approaches, and (ii) changes recommended by project teams
Involving more patients and team members in project teams to maintain momentum and mitigate staff turnover and consumer attrition from projects
Continue building relationships with patients and other health professionals to share the co-design approach with an opportunity-based, rather than a fear-based, response