The purpose of the guide is to:

1. Assist individuals to self assess their:

• current knowledge and skills in relation to improvement
• learning and development needs for current or future roles

2. Assist hospital groups, community healthcare organisations and the national ambulance service to assess and build improvement capability and capacity that enable staff to participate in and lead improvement initiatives

3. Assist health sector trainers, third level colleges, institutions and professional bodies to design academic curricula and education and training programmes for improvement

The guide is designed for all staff both clinical and non-clinical working in the Irish health service. For example, whether you are providing direct care in mental health, social care, primary care, acute services, disability services or health and wellbeing or providing critical support services in catering, finance, human resources or information communication technology, this guide may be used by you. While our roles may be different our purpose is the same – to deliver high quality care and services to patients, service users and families in Ireland through the best use our resources.