Together, to improve health and care
We are a large and vibrant membership community for people working to improve health and care across the UK and Ireland.
This is a place to share tips, tricks, challenges, plans, ‘strings’ and more around using ‘Liberating Structures‘ for health and care improvement.
We also meet online on the first Thursday of each month to experience and try out a particular structure – or a string of structures – in a supportive community.
The meet-ups are co-facilitated by members of the community, and while we all have different levels of experience with Liberating Structures, and facilitation more generally; no one is an expert! This is a peer-to-peer space where we can all feel safe to try something new and learn together through participation.
The latest insights from behavioural science help us better understand all of the factors that influence people’s behaviour – that’s patients and the public as well as health care staff. This helps us create more sustainable health care by reducing inefficiency and waste. Behavioural insights can often be incorporated within existing quality improvement strategies to positively ‘nudge’ people’s behaviour. This group will provide a space to share behavioural insights evidence base, models and theories; to increase awareness of areas of inefficiency and waste that have the potential to have a positive impact on the health and care system through the application of behavioural insights; and for Q members to discuss and develop ideas to introduce nudge-type interventions to their improvement work.
RE: Nudging time poor clinical staff into adopting change
in Applying behavioural insights in healthcare
RE: Sept – Jan meet ups and two more volunteers needed!
in Liberating Structures in healthcare
How can England’s Quality Strategy accelerate improvement in health and care
The Quality Strategy from NHS England brings together existing commitments and evidence within a single national framework. We provide an overview of what it means for Q members and resources to support you to implement it.
Share, learn and collaborate
We offer networking and events, peer learning and groups, resources, and funding. This helps members to innovate, learn, and deliver their day-to-day work.
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EventsDiscover our events
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GroupsJoin a group
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ResourcesExplore our resources
Join the community
Members are at the heart of Q. Join our community for free access to learning resources, funding opportunities, events and networking.
Latest resources
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Cross-System Improvement Framework
Framework 29 May 2026 10 minute readPlan and deliver large-scale health and care improvements across systems with this detailed framework developed in collaboration with sector leaders and aligned with NHS IMPACT. -
Relational Services Resources
Toolkit 9 June 2026 10 minute readA collection of resources, articles, webinar recordings and ways to connect with others to support more person-centred, learning-focused approaches to care and system improvement.
What our members have to say
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“One of the best things about being part of Q is being around like-minded people. Everyone’s got that same focus and everyone’s got that same goal of making things better.”
Pete Donnelly
Founder, The Wheelchair Skills College -
“Q has been integral to my development. It’s opened my eyes and my heart… to a group of individuals who are so disparately spread across the country, all with the same aspiration, passion and belief.”
Hesham Abdalla
Director of Quality, Dubai Health -
“[Q] gives me the feeling that we are making a difference in different ways and that we are coming together with the different skills and experiences that we bring”
Chioma Obasi
Programme Manager/ PMO Lead, Bradford District Care NHS Foundation Trust -
“I get so much more out of [Q] than I ever thought I would! The welcome has been amazing and it’s been from members and people involved in the organisation.”
Sabia Dayala
Clinical lecturer, The University of Manchester -
“Q is the only community that enables people interested in quality improvement within the UK and Ireland to come together, learn and share. Whether you’re building your improvement skills or perhaps have more experience in improvement and are further developed in your career, the Q community is the best way to build your network.”
Amar Shah
National Clinical Director for Improvement, England, and Chief Quality Officer (East London NHS FT), NHS England -
“When you’re sitting out there going ‘what can I do?’, there’s usually somebody out there that has done it and can help you or guide you, be that critical friend. – Sarah Wood”
Sarah Wood
Senior Quality Improvement Project Manager, Cheshire and Merseyside ICS -
“The value of that access to the wider community around the five nations is so brilliant in terms of sharing, and learning from others. Not having to do everything yourself because other people sometimes know better.”
Lou Waters
Head of Continuous Improvement, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board -
“There’s such a wealth of knowledge in the thousands of members within Q across all aspects of health and outside of health. What is there not to value about that? You can’t buy that sort of knowledge and information off people.”
Chris Richmond
Director, GLR Consulting
Updates, opinions and insights
We find and share insight, skills, and ideas widely to create the culture and conditions for improvement efforts to succeed.
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Opinion piecesRead the latest views and opinions from members
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Insight projectsTake inspiration from members’ improvement experiences
Latest news, opinions and insights
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Managing quality during change
8 minute readWe know that large scale change often poses risks to quality. A Quality Management System, or the use of its principles, can provide a structured approach to help address that challenge. -
From innovation to widespread adoption: key principles
10 minute readBased on the best evidence and Q’s experience supporting adoption and spread over the past decade, we set out here eight key principles to guide this work. -
Using improvement to prevent avoidable employee harm
Opinion piece 2 July 2026 5 minute readQ member Benna Waites shares how in NHS Wales they have been applying improvement methodologies to reduce harm caused by employee investigation and disciplinary processes. -
How we’re improving our membership process
Opinion piece 14 May 2026 6 minute readAfter listening and learning how we can improve inclusion and impact in our community, Q is moving to an open membership process. We share why we’re making this change and its benefits.
Improving health and care
Everyone should have access to high quality health care. Right now, they don’t. We know there are thousands of people working hard to change this. But without connections between them, we lose ideas and energy needed to solve the complex challenges we face.
Together, we make faster progress to improve health and care for everyone, everyday.
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Measuring our impact
What we have learned about Q’s impact so far, and how we evaluate our work.
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Q community demographics
Find out who is in Q, where they work, and the kinds of roles they have.
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Member directory
Explore our member directory. Discover who is in the community and make new connections.
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Our services
We can provide bespoke support to help you tackle your toughest challenges and create the conditions for effective change.