Scottish Improvement Foundation Skills (SIFS)
On this page
The aim of SIFS is to support teams or individuals to develop the skills, knowledge and confidence to participate in QI projects and use QI tools.

Applications for Cohort 13 are now open
Application details for Cohort 13 (Autumn 2025) can be found at this Microsoft Form.
Please be aware that in addition to completing the form, you must ensure your line manager submits a statement of support to the NHS Highland QI inbox:
email nhsh.qualityimprovement@nhs.scot
...otherwise your application will not be processed.
About the course
SIFS aims to support individuals to develop the skills, knowledge, and confidence to take begin an improvement project. This includes contributing to testing, measuring and reporting on changes made.
We will:
- teach you how to use the QI Journey as a roadmap for your QI project
- introduce you to QI tools to help generate ideas for change
- show you how to get those change ideas into action using the Model for Improvement and PDSA cycling
- explore the barriers to change and uncover how the System of Profound Knowledge can help us understand these dynamics better
You must be able to work on a small QI project while you are learning with us on the course. We want you to bring a problem and NOT a solution to this course, as we will teach you how to further explore your problem and find multiple solutions. This is very much a learning by doing approach.
SIFS flash reports by cohort
Read flash reports from previous SIFS course cohorts, which demonstrate students' achievements.
Feedback on the course (video)
Watch feedback from two people who’ve previously done the course: Armed Forces project manager, Kari and Health Visitor, Fiona explaining why they found the course invaluable.
Our SIFS journey so far (video)
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