Continuous improvement
Continuous improvement is one of the key principles of the South Australian Alliance to End Homelessness.
Continuous improvement aims to:
- test ideas to improve the system, using data and learnings from each test;
- use limited resources wisely, by testing ideas on a small scale before widespread implementation;
- identify and mitigate unintended consequences before making widespread changes to the system;
- and advocate for system-wide changes based on evidence and improvements from small-scale tests.
This is achieved through the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) approach, an iterative process of planning, implementing, and studying the results.
Through this ongoing process of learning, testing, and adopting new ideas, continuous improvement builds problem-solving capability across a system, driving reductions in homelessness through successive cycles of improvement. Continuous improvement can be useful in many areas of a service or system, such as service delivery, implementation, and coordination (including cross-sector integration), and structural change, including policies, governance, and funding arrangements.
The Adelaide Zero Project receives coaching from Community Solutions, through its partnership with the Australian Alliance to End Homelessness, to implement continuous improvement projects using a Plan-Do-Study-Act approach. The Australian Alliance to End Homelessness views continuous improvement as ‘enabling data to be used for continuous system and service improvement, not judgement’. The Adelaide Zero Project uses data from the By-Name List, which provides a picture as close to real-time as possible of the names and needs of each individual sleeping rough in Adelaide’s inner-city.
To read the Adelaide Zero Project Continuous Improvement Framework, click here.