Poster categories for 2022 are as follows:

1. Quality of Care: Person-Centred
2. Quality of Care: Safe
3. Quality of Care: Effective
4. Quality of Care: Infrastructure
5. Health of the Population
6. Value and Sustainability
7. Integrated Care
8. Responding to and Learning from COVID-19

Once again we want to take the opportunity to showcase the extraordinary work of NHS Scotland staff and partners in responding to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. So we will continue to feature our special category – Responding to and Learning from COVID-19.

While we expect that COVID-19 will feature across the majority of the Poster submissions, this category specifically aims to recognise the incredible new and innovative models of care our colleagues across health and social care have developed in order to provide much needed care to individuals under incredibly difficult circumstances. Demonstrating outstanding commitment, dedication and compassion in keeping people safe and providing care when we have needed it most.

Please ensure that your abstract is linked to at least one of these Poster categories.

If your abstract cuts across more than one Poster category, please choose the category you think is most relevant and submit only under one Poster category.

2022 Poster Categories

Quality of Care: Person-centred

There will be mutually beneficial partnerships between patients, their families and those delivering health and social care services which respect individual needs and values and which demonstrate compassion, continuity, clear communication and shared decision-making.

What we’re looking for

Examples of health and social care services, initiatives and activities that seek to put service users at the heart of decisions about their care and that involve people and communities in shaping how they are supported and services are delivered.

A person-centred approach puts people in the driving seat of their care, with support from professionals to achieve the outcomes that are important to them. It could also include a range of activity to encourage and listen to the voice of people using services, their families and carers, and use this to continuously improve services to meet the needs and values of people.

Quality of Care: Safe

There will be no avoidable injury or harm to people from healthcare they receive, and an appropriate, clean and safe environment will be provided for the delivery of healthcare services at all times.

What we’re looking for

Examples of services, initiatives and activities that seek to build on the Scottish Patient Safety Programme priority themes which are: prevention; recognition and response to deterioration; medicines; and system enablers for safety.

This approach supports the development of cultures of continuous quality improvement so that every person working in health and social care is engaged in the work of improving their day to day practice; and supporting the work to design systems, services and processes which enable people to receive the right support and care, in the right place, at the right time whilst also reducing harm, waste, duplication, fragmentation and inappropriate variation.

Quality of Care: Effective

The most appropriate treatments, interventions, support and services will be provided at the right time to everyone who will benefit, and wasteful or harmful variation will be eradicated.

What we’re looking for

Examples of services, initiatives and activities that seek to ensure that appropriate and effective care are provided consistently for every person, every time. This includes the use of innovative approaches to increase efficiency in service delivery and a description of how collaborative approaches can realise economies of scale, reduction of waste and variation in the system. We are interested in projects where there is clear and agreed evidence of clinical and cost-effectiveness, and to support the spread of these practices where appropriate to ensure that unexplained and potentially wasteful or harmful variation is reduced.

Quality of Care: Infrastructure

Progress towards the three Quality Ambitions of Person-centred, Safe and Effective care will be optimised if we have the right supporting services and resources in place.

What we’re looking for

Examples of services, initiatives and activities which promote early interventions and better models of holistic care built around communities and localities supporting people to live longer, healthier lives – and where our clinicians and health practitioners are able to work with others across health and social care to target interventions, and grow and develop new models of health improvement for the people who will see the greatest benefit and the most important outcomes.

Health of the Population

NHS Scotland, local and national government, the wider public and voluntary sectors have a part to play in achieving a reduction in health inequalities.

What we’re looking for

Examples of services, initiatives and activities that have been developed through partnership working to tackle preventable, lifestyle related illnesses and support individuals to make healthier choices leading to improved outcomes with a focus on those in our most deprived communities. We will also consider initiatives that focus on improving the health of the NHS workforce as part of the Health Promoting Health Service.

We would also welcome examples involving service users to report and share accounts of their personal experience of a service as a whole, or in relation to a particular intervention – and how this rich intelligence is used to facilitate the ability for services to adapt and improve.

Value and Sustainability

As a publicly-funded service, NHS Scotland has a duty to ensure value for money and to provide person-centred, safe, effective and efficient services to the people of Scotland. Evidence of the human and high financial cost of poor quality, makes improvement in both quality and financial sustainability essential across NHS Scotland.

What we’re looking for

Examples of services, initiatives and activities that seek to improve quality and efficiency through improving experience, reducing unwarranted variation, removing waste and eliminating harm. We are particularly interested in clearly described examples where demonstrable benefits, in terms of quality and efficiency, have been achieved through collaboration with partners.

Integrated Care

In 2014, the Scottish Government legislated to integrate health and social care services to ensure those who use services get the right care and support, whatever their needs, at any point in the care journey.

What we’re looking for

Examples of services, initiatives and activities demonstrating that by collaborative working across health and social care with individuals and local communities, people accessing these services will:

• be safe from harm and are able to look after and improve their own health and wellbeing and live in good health for longer;
• have positive experiences of those services and have their dignity respected;
• be able to live, as far as reasonably practicable, independently at home or in a homely setting in their community; receive services which help to maintain or improve their quality of life;

We would also welcome examples which demonstrate that people who work in the delivery of integrated health and social care services:

• feel engaged with the work they do and are supported to continuously improve the information, support, care and treatment they provide;
• believe that integrated activity contributes to reducing health inequalities;
• are utilising resources effectively and efficiently in the provision of integrated health and social care services.

Responding to and Learning from COVID-19

There is no doubt that we have had to adapt to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic. Staff and services have flexed to meet the challenge of dealing with the impact of the virus, while at the same time maintaining a range of essential services. This category focuses on the work that has been done during COVID-19 to provide continuity of care and services, the innovations we’ve seen and the deeper integration that has been necessary. And as work to remobilise services continues where possible and appropriate, we need to continue to focus on what we’ve learned so far – retaining the positive developments in working together, of breaking down barriers and silos, of working innovatively, and in re-discovering our shared purpose to recover and re-design.

What we’re looking for

Examples of the work being done to recover from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic; examples of how health and social care staff and services are maintaining the progress made in redesigning services; and examples of the integrated care, which is creating safe and effective health and care services as we move into a post-COVID world.

While we expect that Coronavirus (COVID-19) will feature across the majority of the Poster categories this year, the Coronavirus (COVID-19) category specifically aims to recognise the innovative new ideas our staff have so magnificently produced in response to the challenge of caring for people during the pandemic, while at the same time maintaining a range of essential services and continuing to provide essential care.