Technology is transforming primary healthcare. It is changing how North Queenslanders engage with the healthcare system and plays a huge role in how patient information is collected, stored, and accessed.

Quality Improvement (QI) is an activity undertaken with the purpose of reviewing, monitoring, evaluating, and improving the quality of services, processes, or experiences delivered at your practice.

Northern Queensland Primary Health Network (NQPHN) is dedicated to assisting providers in engaging in quality improvement activities. This toolkit provides the information required to successfully carry out quality improvement by guiding you through a process of:

1. ensuring quality data
2. identifying areas for improvement
3. planning QI activities
4. implementing QI activities
5. evaluating QI activities.

Undertaking QI allows your practice to deliver improved care and health outcomes to people in your community, as well as improving staff wellbeing and increasing the sustainability of your business by reducing costs or finding new revenue streams.

In your practice, QI activities could focus on:

• safety - avoiding harm to patients
• effectiveness - providing evidence-based care and only providing services that are likely to be of benefit
• patient-centered care - providing care that is responsive to each individual patient’s preferences, needs, and values
• timeliness - reducing waiting times for care and avoiding harmful delays
• efficiency - avoiding waste
• equity - providing care of the same quality regardless of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, location, or socio-economic status.[1]

[1] North West Melbourne PHN, Quality Improvement Guide and Tools, Edition 2, pg. 6