New way of working led to a 32% reduction in service users waiting for Sheffield service

11 July 2025

A two year initiative to reduce waiting times and improve service user experiences has helped to make a real difference to the people we help.

Launched in July 2023, the waiting less and waiting well quality improvement collaborative brought together different teams from across Sheffield Health and Social Care NHS Foundation Trust. The overall aim of the collaborative was to reduce waiting times for service users by 10%, from referral to first contact, in the nine different teams taking part.

We’re celebrating the improvements those teams have achieved for service users. 

Read all about how the Sheffield Community Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team developed more efficient ways to work so that service users were seen faster and received tailored care earlier on in their treatment. 

Sheffield Community Brain Injury Rehabilitation Team

As a team, we decided to focus on reducing the waiting time for service users that were waiting for the minor head injury service. We wanted to try and achieve this whilst also reducing the demand on staff time and resources, increasing the efficiency of the brain injury pathway for moderate and severe injuries.

To improve this pathway, we introduced group sessions for each topic rather than 1:1 sessions for every service user. The groups include sleep, fatigue, vocational rehabilitation and an acceptance and commitment therapy session. This meant that service users could access groups they would find most beneficial to their recovery, tailoring the service to their needs.

The group sessions have helped to make a difference for service users who have had a minor head injury, as these clients can now attend sessions more quickly, helping them to develop behaviours to support long term benefits. They have also been able to connect with others that have had a brain injury and gain some peer support.

Over the last year, we have been able to reduce the number of sessions each service user attends. The sessions have dropped from an average of 36 to 20 per service user, meaning they are receiving effective interventions in a timely manner. This has also supported a reduction in the number of service users on the waiting list for moderate and severe injuries, reducing by 32% from 66 to 45.

There is now more clarity about the pathway that minor head injury patients take, which helps to ensure more equity for service users. The project included redesigning and updating the educational documentation used within the minor head injury, and they are now more user-friendly. The new pathway has also reduced the level of resources used within the minor injuries pathway, which has freed up more capacity for the main workstream. Implementing group sessions has introduced an element of peer support for our service users, which has been very well received. 

One of the main lessons we learnt from being part of the QI collaborative is that deciding on and measuring outcomes from the start helps to determine whether the changes are effective.

Prior to this QI collaborative programme, we had been part of an ‘agile minds’ programme. This approach had generated significant challenges and frustration within the team, and we did not find it to be an effective approach to use for service development. By engaging with the waiting less and waiting well collaborative, we found that we were able to work together to review and change pretty much all aspects of the service delivery model. It was an incredible effort from the team to be able to develop resources for the new pathway at speed, and we are proud of how we worked together to reflect and refine the minor head injuries response. We have created a continuous improvement culture, driven to evolve for the better for our service users.