Newcastle University

Aims

This module, ‘Practice Development’ (ONC8013), leads the learner through the initiation of a practice development initiative, suitable for their own clinical area, and the subsequent audit of the effectiveness of this development, through formative and summative assignments. The online interaction with other learners broadens the learner’s knowledge of the various stages involved in such initiatives, and furthermore, encourages reflective practice. The module aims to:

•       Critically explore a range of factors that influence practice development within the field of oncology and palliative care;
•       Develop skills required to review critically the requirements for improvement in service delivery;
•       Enable deeper thought and critical review of the process of audit and its application into practice;
•       Understand the ways in which practice and development initiatives can be evaluated;
•       Develop the skills to design, implement and evaluate an intervention to improve clinical practice.

Outline Of Syllabus

Healthcare has been changing at an amazing speed over recent years, in part due to demands from society for improvements in clinical care and equality in provision. In the United Kingdom, some serious clinical failings, such as variations in breast cancer treatment, have been publicised widely, helping clinical quality to evolve into a public confidence issue.

Quality first arrived on the UK government agenda in 1990 in two white papers; Working with patients, (Department of Health 1989) and Care of people, (Department of health 1989). Both of these papers addressed care in the community, and were released under the previous government where a market economy approach was prominent.

With a change in government in the UK from the Conservative to the Labour party, came major changes in the National Health Service, described as the ‘Modernisation Agenda’. The internal market, which had been established by the previous government, was abolished and plans to modernise the NHS – with the emphasis on quality care for the patient, were laid down. The consultation paper A First Class Service; Quality in the new NHS (Department of Health 1998) detailed proposals to support the delivery of consistent, higher quality care for patients. Four further papers followed, which addressed local issues within each of the four countries comprising the UK. These were: The New NHS, Modern and Dependable (Department of Health, 1998) in England, Designed Care (Secretary of State for Scotland 1997) in Scotland, Putting Patients First (Secretary of State for Wales 1998) and Fit for the future (Department of Health for Northern Ireland).

At the same time as changes in the NHS, modernisation within social services was addressed within the white paper Modernising Social Services (Secretary of State for Health 1998), through which vulnerable people in society would be better protected, and standards of care raised.

In your own practice there will have been changes driven by this agenda for change, but perhaps the most influential to those in Oncology is the introduction of National Service Frameworks outlined in The New NHS: Modern and Dependable, which has resulted in defining the standards for the delivery of care. The same white paper introduced accountability for maintaining these standards through Clinical and Research Governance policies, and evaluation of outcome through the Commission for Health Improvements (CHI).

Clearly, much of this influence on the development of clinical services has been political and although throughout this module, we will continue to look at the influence of politics on practice development, we will also consider other factors. In this regard, the discussion during this module will refer to political influences within the UK, that may be different to the countries of some students on this course but the underlying principles will be recognised and applicable to most countries.

In Unit 1 we will review the influencing factors behind practice development in the NHS, which include social, political and professional changes. We will also address where the need for change arises from, the process of reflection, and supporting the practitioner through culture change.

In Unit 2 we will consider how practice development has made a difference at a local and national level, and you will begin to consider a proposal for practice development within your own work place, which will form your formative assessment for the end of week 10. We will cover the ‘how to’s’ of practice development throughout this unit.

In Unit 3 we will evaluate the effectiveness of developments through the use of audit. Audit is at both the beginning and end of any piece of change management. Your summative assessment in week 15 will be a proposal to audit the practice development proposed in your formative assessment.

Teaching Rationale And Relationship

N/A

Assessment Rationale And Relationship

The option to critically develop a practice development proposal is commensurate with the achievement of module learning outcomes and post graduate study relating to this topic. The reflective nature of this assignment also supports the nuturing of supported/ independent study in preparation for this dissertation.