NHS Education for Scotland Effective Practitioner Funded Project 2012-2013 Implementing Caseload Supervision in a Nurse-Led Community Service IMPACT Team

The Edinburgh IMPACT (IMProved Anticipatory Care and Treatment) team is a nurse led-community service for people with long term conditions which aims to improve quality of life, support carers and explore ways of promoting health and wellbeing.

NES Effective Practitioner Funded Project provided an opportunity to explore Caseload Supervision to support staff manage complex and challenging caseloads The project gave an opportunity to develop implementation approaches using quality improvement The aim was to support and enable all team members to participate in a consistent, structured and robust approach to Caseload Supervision.

Why and how we did it

Our outcomes •     Increased understanding of Caseload Supervision, which led to an agreed approach within the team   •     Supported the team in clinical decision-making •     Self-reported evidence of a positive impact on reflective practice, team relationships and identification of team and personal learning needs •     Supported professional accountability •     Contributed to professional development •     Increased awareness of how Effective Practitioner can support individual and team learning and development.

Our experiences “Reflection is now part of what we do, it’s the norm.” “The whole experience provided an opportunity to sit down together and discuss a topic. People were open and honest and it provided an insight into people’s thinking.” “Reflection is now part of what we do, it’s the norm.” “Doing things for your colleagues brings people together. At the start we were not sure if we were approaching the project in the right way, but we didn’t want to be too prescriptive.”

The future

Astley Ainslie Hospital Thank you Heather Elliott Jenny Crerar IMPACT Team Astley Ainslie Hospital Edinburgh 0131 537 9240