The programme in Melbourne 2023

People powered change and process

Creating meaningful change to support people, places and communities

This year’s programme will show how transforming healthcare is only possible when everyone comes together to power change. We will learn how to involve, inspire, and innovate across borders and organisations, to support people, places, and systems to mobilise senior leaders and people closest to the issues, so they are better equipped to spread and scale what works and embed capability for innovation, more importantly, how we can create meaningful and lasting improvement in patients’ lives.

Diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)

Promoting health equity: bridging gaps in care, quality improvement and knowledge across communities

Sessions in this stream will look at the definitions of equity, diversity, and inclusion principles and the steps that need to be taken to unite inclusion and quality improvement practices at all levels. How can we achieve health equity for all? How do we learn to work more effectively with rural and indigenous communities to improve value-based care and outcomes? Sessions will explore how to ensure EDI is implemented across all areas of healthcare and how this benefits employees, patients, families, and key stakeholders within the quality improvement ecosystem.

Workforce, wellbeing and engaging staff across the organisation and culture

Promoting wellbeing across organisations: unleashing the power of staff health, wellbeing, and culture

Evidence suggests staff health and wellbeing initiatives delivered within organisations can improve health, productivity, and decrease sickness absences, yet the adoption of these services remains a challenge. Sessions in this stream will explore the strategies, a needs-led approach to implement and initiate wellbeing programmes; and how to build organisational cultures that support staff, health and wellbeing.

Patient safety and co-creating care with service users

Integrating lived experience into healthcare systems and services to improve patient care and health outcomes for the wider community

The ability to live well and maintain relationships is powered by a partnership of equals between people and health care professionals and a need to recognise that patients, communities, and peer networks need to work alongside healthcare professionals and the community and voluntary sector to support patient safety. Sessions will consider how to improve efficiency of patient safety and care by creating new models, processes and improvements that are focussed on what matters most to the patient. 

Sustainability, climate change and environmental impact on health

Adapting health systems to support and adopt community understanding, address climate change challenges, and create a sustainable healthcare system

Sessions in this stream will explore how we handle different kinds of disturbances to the system, reconciliation between the health system and the community; and what support can be provided for improvement. We will discuss how we can provide better learnings and growth in terms of understanding from the community and consumer perspectives and patients around. The bigger question being, how do health systems cope with climate change?

Emerging technologies and digital health

Accelerating the healthcare evolution: bridging evidence and expertise through digital transformation and innovation

Improvement and transformation are happening at an extraordinary scale and pace. How can we harness the opportunity technology brings to deliver better health? How do we create more agile systems? How can we make best use of the data we can now access? Can we combine rapid evidence-generation with clinician expertise? How can we evaluate digital health innovations for health and safety? Sessions will explore these areas in more detail and provide evidence based recommendations to support the outcomes.

Flow and safety

Exploring the healthcare safety landscape: workforce challenges, evolving care models, and navigating COVID’s impact on quality

How do we get healthcare systems to work smoothly by delivering safe care to those that need it time after time? What are the workforce implications of a fast-paced healthcare system and what are the changes in models of care? And how do we address ongoing waves of covid on quality and safety in the healthcare system? Sessions will explore the subject of flow and safety in more detail and provide examples of projects where systems are in place.

Innovation in health

Driving innovations for equal access and improved outcomes at a national scale

The quality improvement movement relies on innovation for change. Sessions in this stream will look at innovative approaches to improving health outcomes on a national scale, as well as how new approaches can reach the most vulnerable people in communities. Innovations don’t have to be high tech, they can be social, digital, process or device innovations – but what does this look like now compared to the future?

We welcome attendees from all health and care sectors and specialties, as well as patients, family members and service users. Our attendees include students, doctors, nurses, managers, service directors, Quality Improvement (QI) specialists, patients, public health specialists and C-suite. If you are passionate about improving outcomes for patients and communities, we would love you to join us.

We have content to suit all levels of experience, whether you are new to quality improvement or an established practitioner.