Gill Smith

Managing Director, Kaizen Kata, Northern Ireland and Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Faculty; Northern Ireland

Gill Smith is a quality improvement, patient safety and human factors professional and the Managing Director Kaizen Kata, Northern Ireland and IHI Faculty. Gill specialises in helping organisations and individuals to build a culture of continuous quality improvement, through capability building and strategic QI support, working globally in the pursuit of quality improvement and patient safety at organisational and system levels.

Gill is a Fellow and Faculty member of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), a Certified Professional in Patient Safety from the Certification Board for Professionals in Patient Safety, an Institute of Leadership Management Certified Coach. Gill is also an accredited Human Factors Trainer and member of the Chartered Institute of Ergonomics and Human Factors, and the Association of Simulated Practice in Healthcare.
Gill’s 30 years working in the NHS, was dedicated to leading large-scale transformation/reform projects, with a strong emphasis on the application of quality improvement methodology to deliver results. She has a long-standing connection with IHI, having previously led one of the first IHI Safer Patient Initiatives in Northern Ireland. Gill has over 20+ years experience of Programme, Change Management and transformational reform expertise across private and public sectors. In addition, she has over 15 years’ experience in patient safety and quality improvement, including the design and delivery of safety and quality capacity and capability building programmes, and in healthcare consultancy. She has an extensive global quality improvement and patient safety network – allowing her to draw upon best practice and innovative approaches to developing and sustaining quality improvement cultures. Over the last 5 years Gill was a member of the IHI European Health Improvement Alliance (HIAE) – a collaborative of European partners working together on shared health and social care priorities. Gill is a speaker at international and national conferences, including the International Forum for Quality and Safety in Healthcare, the IHI National Forum and the Association of Simulated Practice in Healthcare.