Abimbola lead on the care homes project which involved gaining a better understanding of the current standing and working with Care Homes to bring about improvements in quality and safety through organising and running roundtables, working to introduce safety huddles, or organising training.

Abimbola worked with the Improvement Academy Human Factors team in the development of flow chart of intervention and the implementation of Yorkshire Contributory Factors Framework (YCFF) as an intervention to improve safety culture and learning from incidents in practice across Y&H organisations.

Abimbola was involved in the National Safety Measurement programme funded by the Health Foundation which involved the development and delivery of workshops for staff groups.

Abimbola was also a HUSH (Huddle Up For Safer Healthcare) coach where she supported quality improvement within ward teams as they implement daily safety huddles.

As a highly motivated and passionate pharmacist, this year would afford me the opportunity to build on leadership skills and utilise excellent networking skills to improve patient outcomes.

At the end of her year working with the Improvement Academy as a Clinical Leadership Fellow Abimbola said:

The Improvement Academy has been instrumental in the successes I have had this year and my development. I will continue to be an advocate of the Academy and I hope that many more individuals like me will continue to have this great opportunity. I have had opportunity to present my work with care homes at national and international conferences, including:

Olusoga, A. (2017). Improving Safety in Care Homes – The Journey so far. Oral presentation. The Microsystem Festival Jönköping, Sweden, 2nd March 2017.
Olusoga, A. (2017). Quality of care and Safety of Residents in Care Homes – From Regulation to Quality Improvement. Poster presentation. 4th Annual Health Education England Future Leaders Programme (FLP) Conference, Sheffield, 27th March 2017.
Olusoga, A., Lovatt, A. (2017). Quality of Care and Safety in Care Homes – Assessing Teamwork and Safety Culture of Care Home Staff. Poster presentation. International Society for Quality in Health Care, London, 2nd – 4th October 2017.

My clinical leadership fellowship at the Improvement Academy provided an opportunity to broaden my understanding of leadership in a dynamic context developing skills in systems leadership. As the first allied health professional to undertake a clinical fellowship here, I led on the regional project on Improving Quality and Safety in Care Homes. This provided an opportunity to test ideas to improve residents’ safety by enhancing team working and communication using safety huddles. Leadership plays an instrumental role in understanding risks/problems, establishing a safety culture climate and improving the work environment.

This opportunity enabled me to develop a better appreciation of the crucial role that systems improvement plays. It also allowed me to develop extensive networks and understand issues through a different lens which has enabled me to improve collaboration in my clinical practice.