The FCA is working with the Parkinson’s Excellence Network
Parkinson’s Excellence Network choose the Flow Coaching Academy’s Methodology to improve multidisciplinary care for people with Parkinson’s.
The Parkinson’s Excellence Network promotes the advancement of Parkinson’s services and is driving forward work on priority areas for improvement, such as access to specialist nurses and to best practice, integrated multidisciplinary care. The Excellence Network is supported, funded and facilitated by Parkinson’s UK.
The Network also oversees the UK Parkinson’s Audit, the recognised quality improvement tool for Parkinson’s services, which outlines the state of Parkinson’s services in the UK and highlights areas for improvement.
The Flow Coaching Academy (FCA) began talking to the Excellence Network in 2021 after the Academy was recommended to the Network by contacts at the Royal College of Physicians.
Rowan Wathes, Associate Director of the Parkinson’s Excellence Network at Parkinson’s UK
“We were impressed by the impact the Flow Coaching Academy methodology has delivered on previous improvement projects and it was great to see this recognised by The Health Foundation and BMJ Quality award.
Six Parkinson’s services are becoming ‘accelerator sites’. The sites are Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, Cornwall NHS Foundation Trust, St George’s Hospital, The Walton Centre NHS Foundation Trust and NHS Tayside. Some of the sites are acute based and others are community-based. They will all be working to deliver step change improvements in access to and/or quality of multidisciplinary care for people with Parkinson’s. Each site has identified coaches who will participate in the 12-month Flow Coaching Academy programme and lead the service improvement work on behalf of their site.”
Rowan explained why they chose the FCA to support them to achieve their service improvement aims. She said:
We believe the FCA methodology will:
- Build confidence, knowledge and passion for service improvement within Parkinson’s teams
- Deliver tangible benefits for people with Parkinson’s
- Generate data and evidence around the benefits of moving to an integrated multidisciplinary model
“We hope that the coaches will go away with improved confidence, knowledge and enthusiasm about service improvement. In time, we hope that their projects will start to deliver tangible benefits for people with Parkinson’s, such as access to care that is more anticipatory, more joined up and more person-centred”. “And that they will generate a wealth of data and evidence, particularly around the health economic benefits of moving to an integrated multidisciplinary model, which can be used by other services looking to improve.”
We are very excited to be partnering with the Flow Coaching Academy on this important project, which aims to accelerate progress towards our vision of best practice integrated, multidisciplinary care for everyone with Parkinson’s living in the UK.
Rowan Wathes, Associate Director of the Parkinson’s Excellence Network at Parkinson’s UK
The FCA programme uses online e-learning, a community platform, virtual learning sessions, peer group sessions and drop-in sessions to bring people together to share insight and learnings from their regional improvement endeavours. By sharing local experiences, tests and trials, the collective ingenuity across the sites can be harnessed to drive the service improvements across the wider Excellence Network.
The coaches are currently onboarding and will begin their training with the Academy this month, the training will be led by the Head of the FCA Nick Miller and supported by Clinical Lead Dr Tom Downes as one of the mentors. As a geriatrician, Dr Downes has a wealth of service improvement experience, but importantly he really understands the challenges, complexities and opportunities associated with improving Parkinson’s services.
“We feel privileged to be working with the Parkinson’s Excellence Network. We are confident that our methodology is ideally suited to support the nature of the complex care pathway of this lifelong condition. Our Big Room approach which is the heart of our methodology will facilitate the creation of their vision of joined up care around people with Parkinson’s and their carers.”
Nick Miller, Head of The Flow Coaching Academy
We look forward to working with the teams from across the UK and to supporting their transformation initiatives.
