#104 What Matters to You with Karen Turner

In this episode it is my pleasure to talk with Karen Turner. Karen is a physiotherapist with a clinical background in oncology and palliative care. Karen is now Head of Improvement at the Royal Free Hospital where she  Champions the benefit and impact of asking What Matters to You. We explore how Karen became interested in the  What Matters to You movement and the difference it has made to her patients, staff and close friends too.

Key messages from guest

• Karen shares how asking “What Matters to You” transformed her approach to care

• From initial testing Karen became committed to developing a What Matters approach to care

• The impact of asking What Matters to You to staff is discussed

• Most of What Matters to You is easily achievable

• Even if What Matters to a person cannot be achieved, simply listening is doing; enabling a person to feel truly heard

• Karen shares how What Matters to You has also been a powerful quality improvement transformation tool across the organisation

• Karen describes What Matters to You as a conversation key, vehicle for change and a golden thread running through the work and services at the Royal Free

• We explore how What Matters Most to a person underpins Advance Care Planning

Resource

Access What Matters to You  information and resource, including the toolkit and resource mentioned by Karen

Access  How to Have Conversations with Older Adults about What Matters

Access Institute for Health Improvement: Why What Matters to You? Matters Around the World

Access Why What Matters to You? Matters Around the World By Maureen Bisognano

Bio: 

Karen is the Head of Improvement for the Royal Free Hospital in London. Her role involves supporting and leading improvement projects and programmes, advising teams on QI methodology, teaching improvement methodology and also encouraging patient involvement. She is passionate about asking, listening and doing ‘what matters’ for both staff and patients and has developed a site wide approach to staff wellbeing by operationalising the ‘what matters to you’ conversation.

Karen qualified as a physiotherapist in 1996 and worked in different acute trusts and community settings before she specialised in Oncology and Palliative Care. She worked at the Royal Free for 17 years as a physiotherapist before taking this Improvement role in October 2019.

Karen became interested in the world of Quality Improvement during a year as a Florence Nightingale Leadership Scholar in 2017 and had the opportunity to attend the London IHI forum where she first heard about the ‘what matters to you’ movement.

Karen has published original research in the area of Cancer Rehabilitation and ‘what matters to you’ and has co-authored a chapter in a Textbook of Palliative Care. She has presented widely on the what matters to you movement, is a member of IHI faculty and continues to embed wmty in her work improving experience for both staff and patients.

Karen lives in South West London with her husband and two children, Amelie and Lola and her rabbit Pepper (who she sometimes thinks is her favourite house mate!)

Karen Turner, Head of Improvement, Royal Free Hospital

@KarenHTurner1