Quality Improvement Zone

Laura Allison - Head of Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland
Laura is responsible for overseeing the delivery of all nationally taught quality improvement training and development programmes. She has over 25 years’ experience working as a registered nurse, and since 2011 has focused on building capacity and capability in the Scottish workforce using quality improvement as a method to embed change. During this time, she has worked across territorial and national health boards, Scottish Government, Criminal Justice, Education and third sector organisations. She established the Scottish Improvement Leader programme in 2014 and continues to work as faculty delivering on all national programmes. Laura trained as an Improvement Advisor with the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) in 2010, has a master’s degree in Systems Thinking, and is an accredited Executive Coach.

Kim Britton
Senior Educator, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland
Kim is the lead for the Scottish Coaching and Leading for Improvement programme (SCLIP) for the Quality Improvement Team and also works across all QI educational Programmes. She has 11 years clinical experience as a nurse, primarily working in surgical areas where she was introduced to QI methodology and led many projects. Before moving to NES QI team Kim worked as an Improvement advisor with the Patient Safety and Improvement team supporting projects, coordinating and facilitating the delivery of the SCLIP programme within NHS Dumfries and Galloway.

Emily Waite
Senior Educator, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland 
Emily is the lead for the Scottish Improvement Foundation Skills (SIFS) programme for the Quality Improvement Team and also works across all QI educational Programmes. She is a registered occupational therapist, with 17 years clinical experience in a range of settings, laterly specialising as a Macmillan OT and AHP practice education lead. She has led many improvement projects within the occupational therapy and specialist palliative care settings and is passionate about supporting others to improve how our public services are delivered in Scotland. 

Julia Mackel
Principal Lead, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland
Julia Is Principal Lead for Access QI, a new programme supporting clinical teams to improve clinical pathways and reduce waiting times. Julia is also faculty on NES QI programmes such as SCLIP and ScIL. She has 20 years clinical experience as a Dietitian and is passionate about continuously improving patient care.  She has previous experience being a Quality Improvement Advisor on the Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) and a QI Coaching Lead within NHS Lothian. This included developing and expanding the QI coaching network, support local QI training and coach groups/individuals. She is a ScIL graduate (cohort 5) and also accredited Lean Green Belt and has a certificate in professional coaching.

David Maxwell
Principal Lead, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland
David is the Professional Lead for the Scottish Improvement Leader (ScIL) programme, joining the team at NES after working as an improvement advisor for the Scottish Patient Safety Programme. David commenced his professional career as hospital pharmacist in Australia, specialising in infectious diseases and Quality Use of Medicines. He has led a number of state and national initiatives to improve medicines use in the acute care setting, supporting frontline staff to use quality improvement methods as part of daily practice.

Alison Keast
Specialist Lead, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland
Alison worked as an HR Consultant for several years and transitioned into Organisational Development (OD), initially focusing on the management and delivery of national leadership programmes and learning networks.  She has also been responsible for managing the national 360 feedback tool and coaching and mentoring services and is currently part of the faculty for ScIL, SCLIP and Lead for Devolved SIFS.   Ali qualified as a coach in 2007 and since then has worked with individuals and teams to harness their potential and connect with their personal values and ambitions.  This coaching approach has now been at the centre of all the QI, OD and leadership work Alison has since led on.

Lee Kelso
Senior Specialist Lead, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland

Lee joined the QI Team in July 2022 and delivers across a range of QI educational programmes. She has an Exercise Physiology background, working with local authorities and health boards to increase movement in those who found it hardest to be physically active, with a particular interest in strength and balance and falls prevention. This led to a move to the Care Inspectorate, becoming an Improvement Adviser as part of the Scottish Government funded Care About Physical Activity Improvement programme (CAPA).

She also provided quality improvement support to several programmes within the Care Inspectorate, including leading the development of a quality assurance framework for Appropriate Adults.  Lee is a ScIL graduate (Cohort 28) and is an EFQM Assessor. 

Hazel Devlin
Specialist Lead, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland
Hazel joined the Quality Improvement team in November 2021 with a clinical background as a Diagnostic Radiographer working in both NHS and research posts for 21 years specialising in cardio vascular imaging and Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Hazel left her clinical role in 2016 and pursued a career as a NHS Project Manager managing ehealth and finance projects. In 2019 she was involved as part of the National Value Management Collaborative as a participating board project manager/coach and was also a participant on SCLIP Cohort 16.

Shobhan Thakore 
Associate Medical Director for Quality Management, NHS Tayside
Consultant in Emergency Medicine, NHS Tayside
Clinical Lead, Scottish Quality and Safety Fellowship Programme, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland
Shobhan is an Emergency Medicine Consultant and  Associate Medical Director for Quality Management in NHS Tayside where he helps to shape future service configuration by ensuring improvement science expertise supports operational teams. As Clinical Lead for the Scottish Quality & Safety Fellowship programme his aim is to enhance the expertise of Fellows so that their skills are recognised as essential in meeting the challenge to deliver excellent care at an affordable cost. This includes training in technical improvement skills but also leadership training that helps participants understand the importance of team engagement and the psychology of change.
 

Teresa Genovese
Safety and Improvement Administrator, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland 
Teresa started working with the Quality Improvement team in October 2019 within the role of  administrator, taking on administration for ScIL programmes and updating TURAS for QI. Before working for NES she worked for a private investment bank for 10 years and has extensive experience in customer relationship management.  Always looking to improve her own personal development she completed our SIFS programme and is now studying for her Prince 2 exams.

Daniel Gunn 
Senior Officer, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland 

Daniel is a Senior Officer in the Quality Improvement team supporting the Organisational Quality Improvement portfolio. Daniel previously worked within the Pharmacy team at NES assisting with the delivery of the Post-Registration Foundation Programme. He is very excited to be working with and supporting the Quality Improvement team.

Ruth Mackie
Senior Officer, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland 
Ruth is a Senior Officer in the Quality Improvement Team supporting the delivery of QI Taught programmes. She has been working in the QI team since mid 2019 and before that was a part of the Property and Facilities department in NES for 14 years. This experience and knowledge of the organisation has been invaluable to the team and she enjoys learning more about how Quality Improvement is improving outcomes for the people of Scotland.

Janice Walker
Business Partner, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland 
Janice is a Business Partner within the QI team. Her role focuses on finance and communications and also includes leading the Business Support Portfolio. Prior to this role she worked within NES as Team Leader in Training Management based in Glasgow. She has successfully completed the Scottish Coaching and Leading for Improvement Programme (SCLIP) and is enjoying using Quality Improvement methodology in her role.

Sally Peacock
Senior Officer, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland
Sally is a Senior Officer in the Quality Improvement Team supporting the Topic Specific Portfolio including the Scottish Quality and Safety Fellowship, Value Management and Access QI programmes. She is excited to learn more about quality improvement and implement it in her role.

Robin Black
Admin Officer, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland
Robin is an Admin Officer in the Quality Improvement Team supporting the delivery of QI programmes including ScIL, SCLIP and SIFs.  Robin is returning to the NHS after three years as part of the admin team in a shopworker’s union, helping members to navigate the issues brought by Covid-19.  Prior to this, she worked for NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde in a variety of admin roles, from front desk to senior management support. Robin is enthusiastic and ready to take on the challenge ahead of her, learning about QI methodology and the opportunity to build on her current skills, knowledge and confidence within an all teach, all learn environment.

Ross Hope
Admin Officer, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland
Ross is an Admin Officer in the Quality Improvement Team supporting the delivery of QI programmes including ScIL and SCLIP.  Prior to joining NES, Ross worked in NHS Borders Vaccination Department, recording and reporting COVID-19 Vaccination uptake throughout the pandemic, as well as reporting on other seasonal / selective vaccinations. Ross also responded to queries and complaints from elected representatives and members of the public throughout this time. Ross is enthusiastic about continuing to strengthen his data reporting knowledge and contributing to NES with his written communication skills. 

Lewis Allan
Senior Admin Officer, Quality Improvement Team, NHS Education for Scotland
Lewis is a Senior Admin Officer in the Quality Improvement Team, supporting the development of content for the QI Zone and QI learning programmes. Prior to joining the team, Lewis worked as a Knowledge Support Officer, within the NES Knowledge Services team. This role involved supporting the provision of digital library services to staff across NHS Scotland, developing promotional materials and hosting webinars on “The Knowledge Network” platform. Lewis is committed to further developing his video editing and web design skills as well as contributing to NES with his background in knowledge discovery.

Stephen McNamee
Head of Quality & Corporate Improvement
Stephen oversees the delivery of Corporate Improvement and Project Management Office (PMO) activity. He has over 20 years’ experience as an educator. He was a registered teacher in the Republic of Ireland in the Adult Education sector. He brings significant experience in the use of community education as a tool to deliver change. He has worked with border communities in the north of Ireland on peace and reconciliation projects and programmes. This work succeeded because of a focus on developing a vision of a shared future. As an improver, he carries this on by supporting individuals and teams to articulate ‘what better looks like’. He has worked on delivering improvement and change within health and care settings in Scotland since 2013. He has worked in a number of Health and Social Care Partnerships and NHS territorial board areas before joining the team at NES. Stephen is a ScIL graduate and passionate about creating an environment where people can lead their own improvement.

Scott Horton,
Project Manager, Programme Management Services, NHS National Services Scotland
Scott is a Project Manager currently contracted to the Quality Improvement Team from NHS National Services Scotland and is supporting the Turas Refresh Project. Prior to joining NES, Scott has worked for NHS National Services Scotland for over 6 years, and previous to that he worked for Healthcare Improvement Scotland for over 9 years - in both the Project Officer and Project Manager roles. Scott is extremely enthusiastic in bringing his experience of working on numerous differing projects over the years, not only to his current project but also to colleagues who are interested in a project management career. He has completed the PRINCE 2 practitioner course and has also facilitated several training courses all related to project management. 

Penny Fairbairn
Senior Project Officer, Quality Improvement Team and Programme Management Office, NHS Education for Scotland
Penny is a Senior Project Officer within the Programme Management Office supporting different projects. Penny also works in the wider Quality Improvement Team where she supports the Continuous Improvement Portfolio and Business Support activity. Prior to joining NES Penny worked in NHS Dumfries and Galloway in the Strategic Planning and Transformation Directorate. Penny has recently completed a secondment in a Crisis Care Home which provided her with a variety of skills, experience and knowledge which she plans to bring to this post. Penny is enthusiastic about her future learning and development in a thriving quality improvement team.

Rachel Kettlewell
Programme Manager, Quality Improvement Team and Programme Management Office, NHS Education for Scotland
Rachel joined NES in December 2022 having worked across Local Government, Civil Service and the Private Sector for nearly 15 years. Rachel started her career as an analyst and system administrator for local government and then moved into project management and strategy development within various digital and major project roles. She has a particular interest in how knowledge sharing is embedded across portfolios and programmes to facilitate ongoing improvement and learning from success and failure.
 

Kelly O'Donnell
Project Manager, Programme Management Office, NHS Education for Scotland
Kelly is a Project Manager in the Programme Management Office (PMO) currently focusing on the eRostering implementation within NES, as well as working on Quality Management projects. Kelly has worked in NES for over 13 years, initially starting within the medical department, before moving to the Organisational Performance Improvement Programme team then continuing to work in project roles within NMAHP. For the last 5 years, prior to joining PMO office, Kelly has been part of NTS Directorate as a Quality Assurance Tester. Whilst working within NTS, Kelly has worked on various areas of Turas including Appraisal, Learn and TPM. Kelly is looking forward to using and building on her knowledge of the Organisation, to assist with the ongoing improvements across NES.