Implementation news

Implementation News

September 2011

SIGN is part of an international collaboration that has been awarded a grant to conduct research into evaluating implementation approaches.
SIGN gave a presentation to MSPs and others about implementation of the Psoriasis guideline at a Parliamentary event.

August 2011

A presentation was given about SIGN guideline implementation support at the Guidelines International Network in South Korea and generated a lot of interest and comments.

July 2011

As a part of the Delivering Quality in Primary Care National Action Plan, The General Medical Services contract for 2011/12 includes new Quality and Productivity Care Pathways which GPs will use to guide reflective reviews of practice. These new QOF measures have an overall aim of reducing emergency admissions and variation in referrals. The way this is being achieved is via implementation of evidence based care pathways. SIGN guidelines have been used in developing the first set of care pathways, including head injury, dyspepsia and heart failure guidelines.

June 2011

Implementation paper published:
El-Ghorr A, James R and Twaddle S. SIGN is customising implementation support to every guideline. Guidelines in Practice; 2011: Vol 14 (issue 5), pp 40-46.

May 2011

Generic Logic Model placed on the website to support evaluation of local implementation strategies.

March 2011

GI Bleed Guideline: Six awareness raising workshops have been delivered around Scotland to support local areas to review their current services and to put in place improvements in line with the guideline.

February 2011

Guideline Audit Tools launched on SIGN website. Four audit tools have been developed by a group of doctors and dentists in training. More are currently in development and will be uploaded as they become available. These resources are available here: www.sign.ac.uk/guidelines/audit/index.html

December 2010

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) guideline implementation event held at RCPE. The main implementation support activities for this guideline are:

Risk assessment tool
Patient information and awareness raising
Education and training resources
Development of care pathways
VTE care bundle development and implementation in collaboration with the Scottish Patient Safety Programme

As resources become available, these will be placed here: www.sign.ac.uk/guidelines/fulltext/122/index.html

November 2010

Psoriasis guideline launched with targeted implementation strategy www.sign.ac.uk/guidelines/fulltext/121/index.html focusing on:

Raising awareness
Supporting the use of a psoriasis care pathway
Submitting a request for a psoriasis QoF measure to be included in GP contracts Developing electronic decision support tools for GP IT systems
Working with patient groups to support raising awareness and implementation

September 2010

Gastrointestinal bleeding

A programme of local awareness raising workshops is planned for the next six months aiming to support local areas to examine how, where appropriate, they may redesign their services to meet the guideline recommendations. The first will be in Edinburgh on 29 October 2010.

August 2010

Psoriasis

SIGN is working with the guideline development group to produce a patient pathway as an implementation tool. We are also working with patient groups and the Royal College of GPs to plan awareness raising sessions, particularly for primary care. Other avenues being explored include the development of electronic decision support tools for clinical IT systems that embed guideline recommendations and submitting a proposal for a psoriasis measure to be included in the Quality Outcomes Framework (QoF) remuneration system for GPs.

Guidelines International Network Conference

We presented our work on implementation support to an international audience at the Guidelines International Network Conference in Chicago (25-28 August 2010). This also offered the opportunity to share ideas and network with colleagues.

July 2010

Diabetes

SIGN staff are working with local MCNs to deliver guideline awareness workshops focusing on identifying barriers to implementation and potential ways to overcome these. Hundreds of local clinicians have attended these workshops and are actively implementing the guideline. SIGN is also working with diabetes patient groups and the Scottish Government to develop a quality improvement plan for diabetes.

June 2010

Stroke Rehabilitation

The Stroke Rehabilitation Guideline was launched in collaboration with the Scottish Government and Stroke MCNs and implementation was discussed. The Stroke MCNs will be playing a large role in local awareness raising and implementation.

May 2010

Obesity Implementation Conference

Following the launch of the Obesity Guideline, an Implementation Conference was held on 11 May 2010 in partnership with the Scottish Government and partner agencies. Participants discussed a co-ordinated approach to implementation which included:

Raising awareness of the guideline (nationally and locally)
Ensuring that the guideline complements the Scottish Government Route Map for Preventing Overweight and Obesity
Developing care pathways that incorporate guideline recommendations
Producing evidence notes on cost effectiveness of bariatic surgery and weight management programmes, to accompany guideline
Working with the National Planning Forum on increasing the provision of bariatic surgery

March 2010

Headache guideline implementation support resources

We have worked with NHS Education Scotland to develop a CPD training module based on the guideline. This is in the format of “Practice Based Small Group Learning” (PBSGL). A copy of this module, which is aimed at General Practitioners and Practice Nurses, can be downloaded from the Headache guideline page. More information about the NES PBSGL programme can be found here: www.nes.scot.nhs.uk/medicine/continued_practice/gpcpd/pbsg/

Depression guideline implementation pack launched

A “Depression Implementation Pack” was showcased at the NES psychological training event on 17 March 2010. This pack is aimed at GPs, Nurses, psychology services, ICP developers and others and contains implementation support resources for the non-pharmaceutical management of depression guideline. Download your pack here.

Diabetes Implementation Conference

A Diabetes Implementation Conference was held on 23 March 2010 in partnership with the Scottish Government, Diabetes UK and ABPI. Over 300 people attended and discussed a co-ordinated approach to implementation. This approach relies on:

Collaborating with diabetes MCNs
Incorporating guideline recommendations within the Scottish Government Diabetes Action Plan
Raising awareness nationally and locally
Auditing key recommendations through the National Diabetes Audit
Producing a costing report to accompany guideline

Implementation resources will be added to the Diabetes guideline web page as they become available.

February 2010

SIGN Implementation Group established

An Implementation Group has been set up to oversee and drive the implementation support work of SIGN. This group is made up of all the main stakeholders and meets monthly to ensure that implementation support is considered for every guideline

November and December 2009

SIGN representatives attended the Guidelines International Network conference in Lisbon and presented SIGN’s plans for implementation support. There was a lot of interest from many countries in the approach being taken by SIGN as an example of good practice.

October 2009

Psoriasis and Eczema

Planning for implementation of these guidelines began at the National Open Meetings with lots of ideas generated. Most suggestions are for a co-ordinated awareness raising and networking campaign when the guidelines are published and for the use of viral marketing to reach a younger audience.

Asthma

Electronic decision support tools are being developed by BlueBay Medcial Systems. These will be electronic screens on the GP IT system and will raise awareness and prompt practitioners to follow the SIGN recommendations. There is potential to incorporate all relevant SIGN recommendations into the background of the IT system, enabling seamless implementation.

Obesity

We have started to develop our implementation approach alongside the guideline development. We are linking with Government and Regional Planning Groups as well as developing resource implications tools and are planning awareness raising activities in Primary Care.

Head injuries

SIGN is working with Head Injuries Clinical Network to develop and deliver a training workshop based on the guideline.

Alcohol

SIGN is working with the Scottish Government Alcohol Delivery Support Team to implement the guideline in every NHS Board through the delivery of brief interventions. This is linked with an alcohol HEAT target that has to be delivered. NHS Health Scotland has also developed training and other resources to support implementation.

Linking to Quality Outcomes Framework (QoF)

SIGN is now an accredited information supplier for NHS Evidence and the revision of QoF is now a responsibility of NICE. As a part of the process of review, NHS Evidence will be consulted for evidence based measures that should be used.The QoF will increasingly be based on the latest evidence, which includes SIGN guideline recommendations, and will be a powerful implementation tool for some SIGN recommendations.

September 2009

Sore throat

SIGN is working with NES to develop and pilot an educational training module for primary care.

Stroke

A resource implications calculator (costing tool) has been produced with the guideline. In addition, the NHS QIS stroke standards are being updated in line with the SIGN recommendations and we are working with MCNs and voluntary groups to raise awareness of the guideline.

August 2009

Non-pharmacological management of depression

SIGN is working with local NHS Board ICP Co-ordinators, the Scottish Government Mental Health Collaborative, NHS QIS ICP team and NES to co-ordinate the implementation of this upcoming guideline through local Integrated Care Pathways for depression.

MS Word versions of all guidelines are being developed to allow easy copying and pasting of recommendations into local documents and audit tools.