A bad system will beat a good person every time. W. Edwards Deming.

About us

Established in 2012 by Maureen Dowling and Claire Drew, the partnership specialises in working with safety critical systems, bringing together the classic theories and practices of systems engineering, management and leadership. We help you put all the right people and pieces together to establish and improve processes and enhance your ability to develop and maintain quality services and outcomes.

We are sisters with over 50 years of experience between us in the healthcare and engineering sectors. We have been involved in a number of successes over the years and we know that to achieve quality it is vital to balance the right systems and processes with the right culture, values and behaviours.

We are able to offer a wealth of expertise and experience, gathered from all sorts of relevant and seemingly irrelevant & extraneous sources! We are confident that we can help you achieve the right balance for your needs

.

Click here to learn more about us

Know How

We specialise in working with safety critical systems. If failure of a system could lead to consequences that are deemed to be unacceptable, then the system is safety critical. In essence, a system is safety critical when we depend upon it for our well-being.

The scope of our work in safety critical systems is broad. We work with organisations to establish and improve processes and enhance their ability to develop and maintain quality products and services.

Our methods are based on CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration), a process improvement approach that provides organisations with the essential elements of effective processes that will improve their performance. It brings together the three critical factors that organisations typically rely on in service design and delivery in order to enable best practices that help them to dramatically improve quality, effectiveness and efficiency – these are people, process and tools.  

We follow the Deming Philosophy which represents a holistic approach to leadership and management. The philosophy brings together an understanding of variation, theory of knowledge, psychology and appreciation for a system.

Our holistic approach will enable you and your team to evolve their current processes in order to meet quality and/or safety standards that are applicable to your specific circumstances

Information is not knowledge, let’s not confuse the two. W. Edwards Deming.

Our work

We can work with you on systems thinking, transformation, integration, maturity and delivery across all areas

Organisational Maturity

We can help you improve your Organisational maturity which refers to the level of development and effectiveness reached by an organisation in various aspects such as strategy, processes, culture, and leadership. A mature organisation demonstrates a high degree of efficiency, adaptability, and resilience in navigating complex challenges and achieving its objectives. This maturity is often characterised by well-defined processes, clear communication channels, and a strong alignment between the organisation’s goals and its day-to-day operations. Additionally, a mature organisation fosters a culture of continuous improvement, where feedback is valued, and learning is embraced at all levels. By continuously striving to enhance its capabilities and adapt to changing circumstances, a mature organisation can position itself for long-term success and sustainability in today’s dynamic and competitive business landscape.

Quality Management

We offer first hand knowledge, experience and advice for strategy and process development. We can help your organisation to establish and improve processes for delivering a quality service and improve your organisations ability to develop and maintain quality products and services. We can help with Interpretation and mapping of your organisational processes and strategies to the requirements of appropriate quality standards and best practice and give practical assistance in planning, development and roll out of new systems and processes.
We offer Strategy and Quality Management support for the implementation and gaining of Company Quality Accreditations, including ISO9001:2000, AS9100, ISO 14001.

Healthcare

We can help you develop a more integrated approach to health and social care delivery. Whole system integrated healthcare is widely considered as a major way of delivering more effective and efficient use of scarce resources, a major challenge in health and social care today. Often specific patient pathways and services are developed in isolation with little integration between them. There is a tendency to concentrate on the condition specific differences rather than the underlying commonality. Inconsistent pathways and systems can exist across conditions, services, organisations and locations. The successful delivery of many existing pathways and services within health and social care is often dependent upon the skills and enthusiasm of individuals, rather than a systematic, repeatable process. Even pathways which are planned, performed, measured and controlled can be very different and disconnected across conditions, services, organisations and locations.

Educational Governance

We can provide mentoring and improvement support to governance boards through the NLG Programme as Claire Drew is a National Leader of Governance (NLG). NLGs are experienced college governors, governance professionals and clerks with a strong record of supporting college improvement.

We can determine the best way to support the needs of the college(s) we are working with.

The NLG programme operates alongside the National Leaders of Further Education programme. It is part of the active support for colleges outlined in the UK Government guidance on college oversight support and intervention which defines how the Government will support and intervene to improve financial resilience and quality in colleges.

Aerospace

We offer Strategy and Quality Management support for the implementation and gaining of Company Quality Accreditations, including ISO9001:2000, AS9100, ISO 14001, CMMI, MoD Design Approval Organisation Scheme (DAOS), MoD Maintenance Approval Organisation Scheme (MAOS).

Matchmaking

Now we have your attention, we mean, of course, business matchmaking! We believe that collaborative working and being aware of, or in contact with, like minded people, businesses and organisations is essential to success. It’s not just what you know; who you know and how you work together are equally important. We can help you with: Building relationships and collaborative working | Stakeholder analysis and engagement | Networking events and Facilitation.

Contact us

To find out how we can help you achieve your quality goals, contact us at

email: dowling@dowlinganddrew.co.uk

or call 07801 850066