Dr Peter Chamberlain Director of Clinical Improvement

About me

Peter is a Quality Improvement Fellow and Director of Clinical Improvement at Merseycare NHS Foundation Trust.

Peter is a General Practice Principal at Westway Medical Practice and Director of Clinical Improvement within Merseycare NHS Foundation Trust, supporting physical and mental health integration. Prior to this he worked as Lead Clinician for Strategy and Innovation at South Sefton Clinical Commissioning Group for five years.

Peter graduated from the University of Liverpool in 2003. Following completion of core physician training, he worked as a cardiology middle grade before moving to general practice. He also works as a community clinical tutor at the University of Liverpool Medical School.

As a clinical commissioner, Peter’s main areas of responsibility include urgent care, intermediate care and the development of community services. He is an advocate of improvement methodology and is currently leading on a major quality improvement project that includes horizontal integration of community services, vertical integration of IT systems across different health and social providers, and streamlining urgent care pathways.

‘There are significant challenges for local NHS systems,’ says Peter. 'They need to radically develop so that in the future they can cope with changing demographics and social dynamics, as well as the increasing burden of long-term conditions.’

During his fellowship, Peter focused on systems of care connected with frailty and long-term conditions. He is particularly interested in the application of cross-sector care planning, lean management, and the development of sustainable self-care for this group of patients. He hoped to learn more about the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s (IHI) Triple Aim initiative, an approach developed by the IHI that describes a framework for optimising health system performance.

On his return to the UK, Peter planned to form a quality and innovation network and using commissioning channels spread quality improvement methods and tools across Merseyside. ‘I am very excited about the Quality Improvement Fellowship,’ said Peter. ‘It will be a perfect opportunity to develop my leadership skills, together with my understanding of how to use those skills to ensure quality is the foundation for every healthcare service development.’