Annual Report 2025-2026

This year marked the 28th intake of the QQI-accredited Postgraduate Certificate in Quality Improvement Leadership in Healthcare programme, welcoming 10 teams from various healthcare settings nationwide. To date, over 790 healthcare professionals have been trained in Quality Improvement (QI) through this initiative.

Projects undertaken this year as part of the programme included:

• Improving Delirium Recognition and Documentation in the Emergency Department
• Redesigning the Heart Transplant and LVAD Assessment Pathway: An Outpatient Model
• Implementing ISBAR to Standardise Clinical Handover and Improve Patient Safety
• Reducing Delayed and Out-of-Hours Discharges from Paediatric Critical Care Units
• Improving Access to Acute Paediatric Neurology Services Through Pathway Redesign 

The RCPI Being Safe Together programme (formerly SAFE: Situation Awareness for Everyone) is a collaborative patient safety and quality improvement initiative that supports frontline clinical teams in Irish hospitals to implement and sustain effective multidisciplinary safety huddles. Through a blended learning model, the programme helps teams strengthen communication, identify risks early and support timely interventions that improve patient safety. 

During 2025-26, 10 participating teams worked on a range of improvement initiatives focused on areas including sepsis management, communication at transitions of care, critical care safety, patient deterioration and multidisciplinary teamwork. The programme continues to strengthen safety culture and foster psychologically safe, high-performing teams across the health service. To date, 110 teams have participated in the programme, creating a growing national network committed to safer, team-driven care.

Quality Improvement in Action (QIA) is a practical, fully digital programme that supports healthcare staff to lead small, meaningful improvement projects within their own clinical settings. In 2025-26, two cohorts were delivered, attracting over 40 participants, the vast majority of whom were doctors undertaking their first formal quality improvement training. 

Participants developed practical skills in problem-solving, stakeholder engagement, measurement for improvement and PDSA testing while delivering small scale projects that addressed everyday challenges in healthcare delivery. Project themes included improving referral pathways, discharge communication, patient flow, handover processes, infection prevention, diagnostic testing, laboratory services and multidisciplinary working. 

Examples of project aims included reducing central line-associated bloodstream infections in paediatric intensive care by 50% and reducing emergency department to paediatric admission waiting times from four hours to less than three hours. Through participation, learners reported increased confidence in applying QI methods and leading improvement within their own teams and services. 

ALICE (Advancing Leadership for Integrated Care Excellence) is a tailored leadership and quality improvement programme developed by RCPI and funded by the HSE National Health and Social Care Professions Office (HSCPO). 

During 2025-26, a second cohort of the programme was delivered while participants from the inaugural cohort engaged in the newly established Leadership in Practice follow-on series, designed to support project sustainability, continued leadership development and peer networking. Across the two cohorts, 20 interdisciplinary HSCP teams have now participated in ALICE. The 2025-26 cohort comprised 10 teams and 30 HSCP participants, representing services across acute, community, disability and primary care settings nationwide.  

Delivered through a blended learning model combining workshops, virtual learning and coaching, the programme supported teams to lead workplace-based quality improvement projects aligned with national integrated care priorities. Cohort 2 projects focused on improving access to services, strengthening care pathways, enhancing multidisciplinary communication and coordination, and improving patient and family experience across a diverse range of settings. Reported outcomes included redesigned care pathways, improved access to therapy and support services, more integrated multidisciplinary working, and greater use of data to inform service improvement.  

A formal research evaluation involving participants from both cohorts is currently underway. Findings will help inform the future development of the programme and further strengthen the evidence base for HSCP-led leadership and quality improvement initiatives.

The Quality Improvement Advanced Programme was developed by RCPI in partnership with healthcare leaders in the West and North-West region. The programme forms part of a wider regional strategy to strengthen quality improvement capability and support the development of a sustainable culture of improvement across services. 

In 2025-26, 27 healthcare professionals from acute hospitals, primary care, disability and community services completed the programme. Participants represented a broad range of clinical, managerial, quality and governance roles, creating opportunities for cross-organisational learning and networking. 

Delivered through four workshops and supported by coaching sessions, the programme focused on advanced quality improvement methodology, systems thinking, measurement for improvement, leadership, coaching and sustaining change. Evaluation demonstrated varying levels of prior quality improvement experience across the cohort, with participants progressing in both technical improvement knowledge and their confidence to lead and support improvement initiatives within their own organisations. 

The programme has contributed to the development of a multidisciplinary regional network of improvement practitioners and supports a structured pathway for building quality improvement capability, coaching expertise and improvement leadership across the West and North-West region.