Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI)

The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) is an independent not-for-profit organization helping to lead the improvement of health care throughout the world.  Founded in 1991 and based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, IHI works to accelerate improvement by building the will for change, cultivating promising concepts for improving patient care, and helping health care systems put those ideas into action.

Resources include:

• Training programmes for leaders in healthcare improvement
• Papers including white papers
• Improvement map - an online tool that distills the best knowledge available on the key process improvements that will lead to better outcomes for patients.
• IHI Open School – free online courses in patient safety and quality for leaders in healthcare improvement, together with case studies and other seminars.

An IHI white paper 'Increasing Efficiency, Enhancing Value in Healthcare' presents a new approach to the “business case” for quality improvement: the systematic identification and elimination of waste, while maintaining or improving quality. The approach includes a set of steps health care organizations can undertake to create a portfolio of work leading to a 1% to 3% savings in operating costs per year.  

ISIP – Principles of Integrated Service Transformation

The NHS Integrated Service Improvement Programme, also known as ISIP, was established to support a set of key principles in support of sustainable service transformation:

• Whole systems reform - Focus on the whole care continuum from prevention through treatment to review and rehabilitation
• Cross-community collaboration - Complex, sustainable transformation to care delivery for, say, urgent care or long term conditions, or elective care closer to the patient, requires collaboration across care communities
• Benefits-led change - A disciplined approach is needed to clarify the quality of care and financial benefits that transformed services will deliver benefits for patients, staff and the local health economy
• Integration of change enablers - Workforce, Care delivery processes, TechnologiesMost complex change programmes will require a mix of workforce / role reform, change of working practices and the deployment of information or other technologies. Benefits are optimised when all these enablers of change are made to complement each other.
• The formal disciplines of Programme Management - The approach to integrated transformation is consistent with, and draws on the disciplines of, programme management methodologies such as Managing Successful Programmes.

The programme is currently supporting 16 NHS Local Health Community (LHC) demonstrators which are implementing complex service transformations to improve different aspects of patient care: Long term conditions; Urgent care; Elective care / 18 weeks; and Mental health. Several of these are being supported together with the National Diabetes Support Team.

An approach to managing complex change (the Roadmap for Transformational Change) is available to support both Commissioners and Providers to deliver effective service transformation.

Resources online include: 

• Roadmap for transformational change
• Practical guides
• Case studies
• Toolkit 
• Benefits planning guide and tools to help realise benefits
• Tools to help develop and maintain effective stakeholder communications and engagement.

Resources are housed online in the ISIP Bookcase.

Appreciative inquiry – worldwide resource for shared knowledge

The "AI Commons" is a worldwide portal devoted to the fullest sharing of academic resources and practical tools on Appreciative Inquiry techniques and the rapidly growing discipline of positive change. This site is a useful online resource for leaders of change, scholars, students, and business managers.

In the years since the original theory and vision for "Appreciative Inquiry Into Organizational Life" was articulated by two professors at the Weatherhead School of Management (David Cooperrider and Suresh Srivastva, 1987) there have been literally hundreds of people involved in co-creating new concepts and practices for doing AI, and for bringing the spirit and methodology of AI into organizations all over the world.

There are also specific online resources for chief executives and board level directors in using appreciative inquiry techniques.

Related skills

• Stakeholder engagement – resources include the ISIP stakeholder engagement toolkit 
• Change management and benefits management
• Chief executive and board level development
• Leadership development