Q is a connected community working together to improve health and care quality across the UK.  There are almost 3,000 members, including those at the front line of health and social care, patient leaders, managers, researchers, commissioners, policymakers and others. Find out more about the Q Community here. 

Q’s mission is to foster continuous and sustainable improvement in health and care. Q offers opportunities for people to come together and form a community – sharing ideas, enhancing skills and collaborating to make health and care better.

The diversity of the community boosts the power of Q as a source of innovation and practical problem solving by including a wide range of perspectives. Q is delivered by the Health Foundation. 

Why join Q?

Here at Health Innovation West of England, we support Q as it’s a great way to connect with colleagues across the region and beyond.

  • Join a diverse community to collaborate, share and learn from each other to help create real change.
  • Tap into Q as a source of innovation and practical problem solving.
  • Develop your improvement skills and help lead and develop others beyond Q.
  • No membership fee.
  • Let Q grow with you as your career progresses – participate in ways that fit with your life and improvement priorities.
  • Enjoy benefits including journals and learning resources, Q visits and inspiring events scheduled throughout the year. Read more about Q visits and events. 
  • Click here to find out how you can get involved in other activities including special interest groups, Q Labs and Randomised Coffee Trials with others in the community. Read more about Q Labs here. 

How we support Q in the West of England

  • We’re supporting hexitime – the new skills exchange and timebank for Q members. Hexitime is founded on the principle that you give an hour of your time and claim one back from another registered member of the community who has a skill that you need. Read more about hexitime here. 

How to join

To join Q you need to complete an application that will be assessed by people experienced in improvement from a range of different backgrounds.

In the application you will be asked to reflect on two key areas:

  • Experience and knowledge – your experience to date of using structured approaches to enable improvement
  • Commitment – why you want to join Q

If you are keen to join Q and would like advice on your application, please contact us.