Creating a thriving community hospitals network

Community hospitals are small local hospitals that are typically rural and remote so the group wanted to facilitate high quality, structured opportunities for networking and collaboration. 

With funding and support from Q, the group has been able to host events and provide a place for community hospital professionals to share knowledge and good practice. 

As a result of this work, the group is growing – both in terms of the number of members and the diversity of professions it represents – into a thriving community of practice centred on the work of community hospitals across the UK. 

The CHA project team set up a funded programme of work that included strategic communication and targeted member engagement. 

The team wanted to recruit a convenor who would be able to help them to deliver their engagement programme. When they were unable to fill this post, individuals within the team, including the administrator, stepped up to fill this role. 

Sourcing patient and community stories was a key priority. 

One patient did consent to sharing their story, but then subsequently changed their mind, which is not uncommon. 

Sourcing patient stories can be a challenging area. But anyone who works in a community hospital knows how important it is to listen and learn from those who use the services, so the team will continue to look at all the ways in which patients’ views can be heard. 

Due to the requirements of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Q is unable to share the information of people who attend discussion groups or events that are hosted by Q team, even when convened by an online group. 

The CHA project team wanted to be able to follow up with event attendees directly so started hosting the online meetings themselves. 

This enabled them to seek permission from attendees who were not currently members of the online group to let them know about ways to continue to be involved with the CHA and Q. 

Since the start of this Q Exchange project in 2021, membership of the CHA group has more than doubled, growing from 26 to 64 by November 2024. The discussion groups attracted interest beyond the group network, and have been well attended. 

Key to this achievement was attracting members from beyond ​​​​​​​​the existing CHA network. An analysis of the Q group membership has shown that it includes members drawn from England, Wales, Scotland and international organisations including:

• patients
• community leaders
• clinical and therapy staff
• leaders and managers
• director and non-executive directors 
• academics  
• QI leads 

The report into the work of community hospitals during COVID-19 showcased 31 case studies of quality improvement developed during the pandemic and has been published in the BMJ Open Quality, with the publication facilitated by Q. 

Evelyn Prodger and Sue Greenwood, of the Group Project Team, published a paper. 

Enhancing the care of older people: role of community-hospitals which prompted discussion groups and further debate on frailty and older people. 

In addition, the CHA now has a dedicated channel on YouTube where they are able to share online events with a wider audience. 

Giving a voice to those in community hospitals has been one of the most important benefits of this group. 

By November 2024, the project team had hosted 15 online discussion events for 316 participants, with 454 registering. They have discussed a range of issues, such as safer staffing and sharing reflections on quality improvement achievements. 

In October 2024, the CHA and Q hosted a national conference attended by 140 delegates over 2 days.  The conference programme included a plenary talk by Tarnia Mason from Q, and a keynote speech from Professor Chris Whitty, Chief Medical Officer for England. 

As well as an opportunity to nurture and grow their professional network, the conference was an opportunity to present several CHA members with awards for innovation and best practice in improvement. 

To share knowledge more widely, the project team produced four resource packs delving more deeply into topics of key interest raised by members. These included: 

1. integrated care 
2. staff health and wellbeing 
3. leadership 
4. safer staffing.

The CHA group is one of Q’s most active online forums and the online events are consistently well attended. 

The group’s administrator has greatly enhanced the support they were able to offer members. The project team found that the support, enthusiasm, time and resources of the CHA committee, and in particular the dedicated Q project team, was vital to their success. 

To track their impact, they continually analyse membership of both this Q group and the CHA, and they reach out to participants to encourage membership of both. 

The ability to hold discussion groups online and record them has meant that sessions could be attended without the need for participants to travel and has allowed for the sessions to be viewed by those who were unable to attend. This is particularly important for clinicians with limited time. 

The group gave themselves time to grow and evolve naturally. They found it was important not to rush, as people needed time to establish relationships and confidence with one another. The project team and project board that they put in place was essential to support this work. 

The team benefited from linking with other groups and talking to other convenors. They found that working closely with Q was of great benefit. Having a partner willing to talk through issues and ideas, and provide support and links to resources, was invaluable to those working on this project. 

Community hospitals is a niche area of health and social care, so the project team adjusted their expectations about the size and diversity of the group accordingly. 

They were encouraged by the achievements of the group, such as the growth of the membership, and will continue to keep the focus of this group specifically on community hospitals. 

The CHA is continuing with monthly online discussions and the group is preparing for national conference in May 2026.

Widening the network of those working with the CHA has shown the benefits of collaborating with Q.