Phrases such as transformation and continuous improvement (CI) are appearing more and more in the rhetoric of government and the wider public sector. Driven by the imperatives of eff...

Phrases such as transformation and continuous improvement (CI) are appearing more and more in the rhetoric of government and the wider public sector. Driven by the imperatives of efficiency and transparency, the realisation is dawning that things are not going to go back to the way they were. There is a change of culture going on, moving away from the old hierarchical organisations of the past to a new, agile, business-like public sector.

Why it is imperative that CI be established as a default in the public sector to ensure that best value outcomes are achieved and services are efficiently delivered?

Continuous improvement should become business as usual, as it means that the organisation is keeping an eye on its processes and bad practice is not creeping in. Continuous improvement may take a bit of time to set up but once its established it actually helps the organisation to work efficiently.

I am a firm advocate of continuous improvement and have seen it work in practice.

Completely agree that all aspects of healthcare should reflect continuous improvement - the way we do it around here - and that means encouraging teams to risk assess and problem solve issues in their department they know don't work well and could be improved, robust investigation of complaints and incidents and regular monthly case note reviews to see where the adverse harm issues are.

In this way best practice can also be shared and using the PDCA cycle will mean their is a robust way of ensuring continuous improvement. I would also say that risks should not just be assessed after an event they should be assessed prior so the risk is mitigated.

As a private sector executive, I find it an interesting notion that the public sector think continuous improvement should not be "business as usual".
Continuous improvement just a convenient label. Any professional, whether an engineer, doctor, lawyer or even a politician, should practice continuous improvement subconsciously - it merely means reducing waste, being more productive, having a responsible attitude to expenditure (in all it's forms).
The one thing with continuous improvement initiatives is that everyone needs to buy into the change...how many of us have seen something be "improved" by one person, only for another to "improve" it back again to what it was??!!!!!¬

My view is that public services are aware of the need for continuous improvement, however the challenge sometimes is managing the BAU and continuous improvement at the same time. Public services and local government has been exposed to a massive cut in funding over the last 4 years or so, and they have and are continuing to manage it on a daily basis with continuous improvement along with the BAU and delivering services.