Quality Improvement Team
for Care Homes &
Primary Care Settings
Our aim is to support Care Homes and Primary Care Settings with Quality Improvement Projects. These may be generated by National Workstreams, Local Policy and Guidance, Best practice or Care Home specific projects.
We will work with relevant teams alongside Care Homes and Primary Care settings on issues identified by them with them to make improvements that are important to them – these may be wide and varying including – improving communication with other services, education opportunities for staff and aspects of care for residents.
We see ourselves as a resource for Care Homes that they can use and work with to improve issues that matter to them. Many services will focus on one or two topics or aspects but we are unique in that we will look at a wide range of topics from aspects related from physical health to mental health and from supporting resident’s to supporting staff – within these areas there are many further topics we can look at.
We want to assure you that we do not want to force ourselves on homes or criticise in any way. We will only work with those who wish to work with us – we aim to work with you in partnership on issues that are important to you. Quality improvement is about spotting things which could be improved and working on this in a non-judgmental manner so it aims to be a positive experience for all.
Meet the team
Maggie Byers-Smith – Lead Nurse – QI and Standards, Care Homes & Primary Care
Hi,
I’m Maggie Byers-Smith, Lead Nurse, Quality Improvement (QI) & Standards, Primary Care & Care Homes. I qualified as a Registered General Nurse in 1990 and have an extensive, varied career in the NHS including medical specialties, Clinical Support Worker development, Clinical Education & Training and Programme Management. I have also spent some time in the Private and Local Authority Social Care sector. I am passionate about people getting the right care, at the right time, by skilled and competent staff across Health and Social Care.
I have led and been involved in a variety of QI initiatives since 2007. I see QI as everyone’s business with strength in working across sectors and organisations to make improvements and achieve common goals.
Audrey Pringle – Team Lead
Hi, I’m Audrey and I have worked in the NHS since 1988. My background is working with the elderly in hospital based settings. I have also worked within both NHS Lothians Infection Prevention and Control Team and latterly with the Health Protection Team. I also worked across North Edinburgh care homes, as part of a Care Home Liaison eam pilot in 2015. These roles have afforded me the opportunity and privilege to work with the care homes across Lothian.
I am looking forward to managing a team again in this new role and to forming lasting and meaningful relationships with the care homes and the staff working in this sector., supporting the team and the care home through tests of change and quality improvement initiatives.
Eleanor Laird – Associate Quality Improvement Advisor
West Lothian – and some of Edinburgh (to be decided)
My name is Eleanor, I qualified as a mental health nurse in 2016. I have worked as a staff nurse in HBCCC, CAMHS and a Male Dementia challenging behaviour ward where I also worked as a deputy charge nurse. Prior to completing my nursing degree, I worked as a care assistant in a local care home.
The experiences I have had in these areas have started my interest in quality improvement and ultimately brought me to where I am today.
Sam Galbraith – Associate Quality Improvement Advisor
East Lothian – and some of Edinburgh (to be decided)
Hello, my name is Sam. I have been a nurse for almost 10 years. After qualifying as an Adult Nurse in 2012 I have spent most of my career working within acute surgical wards. Working in these clinical areas gave me the privileged opportunity to care for a varied group of people whilst expanding my knowledge.
As I gained experience, I became passionate about quality improvement and became involved in the Lothian Accredited Care Assurance Standards. This led to me joining the Quality Improvement Team for Care Homes and Primary Care Settings in December 2021. I am looking forward to working closely with Care Home staff and the residents, supporting them through their Quality Improvement projects.
Jennifer Newman – Associate Quality Improvement Advisor
Edinburgh (to be decided exactly what areas)
Hi, I’m Jennifer and I qualified as an Adult Nurse in 2012. I have worked in a various areas of nursing including medicine of the elderly, acute medicine and community, with recent experience as a Nurse Practitioner within a Hospital at Home team.
Throughout my career I have been passionate about being a part of positive change and with that my interest in quality improvement grew. I am excited now to be a part of the Care Home and Primary Care Quality Improvement Team and supporting improvement projects throughout NHS Lothian.
Hazel Stewart – Associate Quality Improvement Advisor
Mid Lothian – and some of Edinburgh (to be decided)
Hi I’m Hazel, I have I’ve worked in care for most of my working career, I also have a Health Psychology degree and Mental Health Nursing degree.
I started as a Care at Home Support Worker in the community, working with clients with various different needs. I then worked as a Nursing Assistant in various Care of the Elderly Wards in NHS Lothian.
Upon qualifying as a Mental Health Nurse I moved into working with people with Acquired Brain Injuries and challenging behaviour who often had very complex needs requiring a very person-centred approach and nursing methods that at times had to “think out the box”. More recently I have spent time with the NHS Lothian Health Protection Team working in the Care Home team during the Covid 19 outbreak.
I am very passionate about working with people with wide and varying needs such as those which may be experienced by residents in Care Homes and Primary Care settings and ensuring they receive the best care possible using a person-centred approach. I am also very passionate about improving opportunities for staff and all those involved in Care Homes and Primary Care Settings and it’s important to me to work alongside colleagues and recognise that although we may all come from different sectors we are part of a big team caring for Care Homes and Primary Care Settings in various ways.
Julie Kershaw – Project Support Officer
Hi I’m Julie and I joined NHS Lothian in November 2020. I started working within the Care Home Programme Team, however over the last year as the team has grown to incorporate QI and Standards and the Lothian Care Academy. As a Project Support Office I work between the Care Home Programme Team and the QI and Standards team – it’s great to have a wide vary of topics to work on across the teams to learn and develop from.
Prior to working with the NHS I worked within Tourism and Event Management, organising and managing many medical conferences and events for over 20 years. These transferrable skills allow me to provide great support to developing projects.
I’m passionate and enthusiastic about helping and supporting my colleagues along with partnerships and stakeholders a like, whist working on projects throughout NHS Lothian
Examples of projects we are currently working on
Some projects have been initiated by us, some we are working alongside others who devised the project.
- Dementia training – we are supporting Lothian Care Academy for this project
- Mentorship programme – we are supporting Lothian Care Academy for this project
- Restore 2 – we are supporting Midlothian CHST for this project.
- Secure Email system
- Stoma Education Programme – we are supporting Lothian Care Academy for this project
Examples of completed projects we have worked on
Some projects have been initiated by us, some we worked on alongside others who devised the project.
Care Homes website
Care Homes Website – Initiated by ourselves in discussions with key stakeholders.
The review and redesign of the website is complete and our team has moved on to maintaining and growing the website – this includes reviewing it and making improvements.
We have just finished a big review, reviewing how to make the website more streamlined and easier to view manage, please look out for related improvements in the coming months (March 2024).
Introducing and embedding a digital pain assessment tool
Introducing and embedding a digital pain assessment tool (PainChek) – Initiated by a Care Provider in their two Care Homes in Edinburgh.
Read the Q blog on this project written by the RCN Lead Nurse for Independent Health and Social Care in Scotland or view the STV News article on PainChek featuring one of the Care Homes from this project.
Additionally, there is an article in issue six of the CHIT CHAT newsletter written by the care provider and the Quality Improvement Advisor who were involved in the project.
You can also view the poster which we and the Care Provider created for the ENRICH conference illustrating how such improvement work and tools are the result of contributions from different specialist areas (including Care Homes) making positive changes for residents. The poster came joint first!
Music therapy project
Music Therapy Project – Initiated by Midlothian’s Care Home Support Team (CHST) and a music therapist from NHS Lothian’s Arts Psychotherapy Team
We supported a project carried out by a music therapist to work as a part of Midlothian’s Care Home Support Team (CHST)to deliver a range of music therapies to residents living with dementia in 8 Care Homes in Midlothian.
The project demonstrated a multitude of benefits of music therapy for residents, relatives of residents and staff.
The project can be viewed in the Alzheimer Scotland AHP Webinar on music therapy. Both music therapy and these webinars are recommended in SIGN 168: Assessment, diagnosis, care and support for people with dementia and their carer
Following the webinar there were many questions relating to music therapy, especially in relation to how Care Homes could use music in positives ways with their residents.
The music therapist from this project alongside NHS Lothian’s Arts Psychotherapy Team have developed the webpage Music in Dementia. The website aims to answer questions re music therapy by providing information on music therapy for anyone working or living with someone with dementia . The page has a range of resources from reading materials to, sections on how to use music or “connecting with music”.
