International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare London 2024

We are putting the final touches to our brand new Call for Speakers submission system and will be starting to accept proposals really soon, up until 5 September. Here are some of the key changes to expect:

• No abstract template upload, your proposal will be done fully online
• New topic streams, each of the streams will be led by expert co chairs and reviewers
• Half and full-day workshops will be by invitation only
• Abstracts will be graded by expert reviewers for each stream. Each stream will have patients and reviewers from younger demographics and will be scored by at least 3 reviewers. The abstracts for each stream will be ranked and then the organisers and stream co-chairs will create the programme to ensure it is balanced across all streams, locally and internationally, and to ensure good representation of everyone involved in improving health and care on the programme.

The new Streams

We want to hear about projects and initiatives that show impactful results under the below streams.

Submissions are expected to be co-produced with patients, service users, citizens and carers wherever possible. We have representatives on these groups in all our planning committees and are working to increase the representation of these groups as speakers and delegates.

Safety

Patient safety in healthcare involves the prevention of harm through the effective mitigation of risk – and incorporating aspects of safety science including human factors. Patient safety also involves learning by investigation, reporting and change after events. We want to hear about projects that reduce the possibility of harm caused by healthcare, but also submissions from those working in harm and risk reduction in other industries. From technological safety nets to organisational culture improvement, how are we keeping each other safe as we go about the day to day work of delivering healthcare, plan new services and work across professional boundaries. We’d be keen to see submissions from risk management teams and technology providers and also investigators looking to share good practice.

People

We want to hear about your improvement projects where health and care professionals are working together with patients, carers or people with lived experience to co-produce a real difference to communities. This includes patient leaders who are creating real improvements to the experience of patient care. We are also interested in healthcare professionals co-producing with patients, as well as co-production across social care and education sectors to improve health. If you are a patient or working in partnership with patients to create better healthcare, we want to hear from you.

Population

Population health recognises the imperative for healthcare improvement to change to meet the needs of the whole population by working with data and across traditional organisational boundaries. We want examples of how large data sets are used to plan care for whole communities and populations, and how technology is bringing new challenges and opportunities for scaling care, and how communities are being active in designing care that meets their needs. This covers exploring the role of different organisations working across the boundaries of health, social care and education.

Change

Change is the process by which we make improvement happen. The focus will be on how we think about change and practical actions that enable change, leading to improvement such as small-scale change initiatives, how can we make change happen across a whole system? How you have applied social movement thinking or complexity principles of appreciative inquiry or implementation science or any other approach to change in health and care. Submissions will be welcomed from people who are expert practitioners in specific forms of change who would like to share their practice.

Science

This stream will showcase the best work that is applying the science of improvement with high rigour, and advancing the field of improvement science. We’re particularly keen to hear from people applying good design and evaluation methods in health and care improvement. We’re looking to define the approaches and methods being applied within health and care to improve quality of care, improve population health, tackle equity and enhance sustainability. We’ll be working with the Editors of BMJ Quality and Safety and BMJ Open Quality to highlight the best work submitted.

Leadership

Leading for better health is becoming ever more complex and challenging, yet also ever more exciting since we have a constantly-growing base of experience on which to draw. “Leaders” can be health or care professionals, patients, community-leaders or others—we’re interested in all forms.

What does “leading well” look like today in a complex world with multiple needs and aims? How can leaders encourage progress at one and the same time across all dimensions where results matter: patient outcomes and experience; population health and equity; sustainability/environmental health; cost; staff experience and wellbeing?

Submissions should include creative solutions and strategies which are of practical use to people working toward better health – be they community organisers, ward team leaders or executives in large systems, charities or other organisations. And submissions which are grounded in practice and real-world application, not only in theory.

This stream will be developed in partnership with BMJ Leader, the journal for evidence and debate in leadership across health and care.

Website – live in June 2023

Call for Speakers – opens June 2023 /ends 5 September 2023

Call for Posters – opens July 2023 / ends 1 November 2023

Registration – opens August 2023 (Early Bird ends 2 February 2024)

Programme launch – expected late November/early December 2023

The venue for the International Forum in 2024 is ExCel London, Royal Victoria Dock, 1 Western Gateway, London E16 1XL.

For more information on our sponsorship and branding opportunities, visit here.