Company Profile
The Improvement Foundation (IF) is a not-for-profit organisation. We provide expertise in the development and delivery of quality improvement techniques, such as the Collaborative methodology, to bring about small and large system change. We support improvement work by providing specialist change management advice, and leading edge IT systems, which enable robust measurement of improvement efforts.
What we do
- We work in partnership with organisations and their frontline staff to help improve their services, enhance their systems, and to work more efficiently.
- We use established improvement methods to give people the skills and knowledge they need to make on-going and sustainable improvements.
- A culture of continuous improvement, learning, participation and partnership is at the heart of everything we do.
Our achievements
The Improvement Foundation (Australia) Ltd was established in Adelaide as an Australian not-for-profit organisation and registered as an Australian public company on 30 November 2006. Formed initially as a subsidiary of the UK Improvement Foundation, IF has continued access to all Improvement Foundation intellectual property. For more information about the UK Improvement Foundation's achievements, please click here.
IF has successfully developed and delivered multi-million dollar nationwide programs, as well as one-day quality improvement workshops. Our programs are tailored to achieve and measure, sustainable results.
We specialise in:
- Developing and delivering large scale primary healthcare improvement collaboratives (based on the IHI Breakthrough Collaboratives Methodology) producing rapid, whole system change, using data collection and reporting to benefit service providers and their clients. Click here to read about the Australian Primary Care Collaboratives Program.
- Developing and managing IT infrastructure to support quality improvement programs. We have developed an innovative web based reporting and measurement system, enabling clients to measure for improvement within a safe and secure online environment. Click here to read more about this system, 'OCHREStreams', developed specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services.
- Providing quality improvement skills training for a range of professionals, frontline staff and service users. Click here to read about our training and workshops.
- Tailoring quality improvement techniques to reduce inequalities and support the development of communities. Click here to read about tailored services like the GP Plus Practice Nurse Initiative.
Click here to find out what we mean by 'quality'.
Click here to download the Improvement Foundation Corporate Brochure
The Improvement Foundation (Australia) Ltd
is an ISO certified organisation.
Last Updated 09 November 2011
What is the Model for Improvement?
The Model for Improvement provides a framework for developing, testing and implementing changes. It helps to break down a change effort into small, manageable chunks which are then tested to ensure that things are improving and that no effort is wasted. It is always worth remembering that while every improvement is certainly a change, every change is not an improvement.
The Model for Improvement consists of two equal parts; the first part, the “thinking part”, consists of three fundamental questions to guide improvement work:
- What are we trying to accomplish?
- How will we know that a change is an improvement?
- What changes can we make that will result in an improvement?
For more information about the Model for Improvement visit: http://apcc.org.au/about_the_APCC/the_model_for_improvement/
What is a Collaborative program?
A Collaborative is an improvement method that relies on the distribution and adaptation of existing knowledge to multiple settings, to achieve a common aim. Healthcare Collaboratives are built on a tried and tested method, developed in the USA , which has been applied to a wide range of management challenges. It was originally applied to healthcare systems by the Institute of Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in the USA, and has been adopted in other countries. A Collaborative is not a research project, a set of conferences or a passive exercise. A Collaborative is about actually doing and improving.
What is the Collaborative Methodology?
Adapted from the Institute of Healthcare Improvement’s Breakthrough Series Collaborative methodology, in the Australian context, the Collaborative methodology is used as a framework for the APCC Program. This methodology has been applied to a wide range of management challenges. Originally applied to healthcare systems in the USA, it has since been adopted in other countries, including the UK, Scotland, Canada and New Zealand.
The Collaborative methodology is proven to be highly effective in achieving large scale systems change and demonstrating measurable outcomes. It provides a generic quality improvement model that can be applied to achieve incremental, rapid and locally relevant improvements across a broad range of clinical and practice business issues.