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QH-TRIP

Translating Research Into Practice

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  • TRIP Change Builder

    • Identify a Problem

    • Evidence to Support Change

    • Planning for Change

    • Implementing Change

    • Evaluating Change

    • Sustainability, Scale, and Spread

  • Learning Hub

    • Foundation

    • Identify a Problem

    • Evidence to Support Change

    • Planning for Change

    • Implementing Change

    • Evaluating Change

    • Sustainability, Scale, and Spread

  • Resources

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TRIP Learning Hub: Sustainability, scale, and spread

Planning for the long term so change endures and expands.

  • TRIP Change Builder
    • Identify a Problem
    • Evidence to Support Change
    • Planning for Change
    • Implementing Change
    • Evaluating Change
    • Sustainability, Scale, and Spread
  • Learning Hub
    • Foundation
    • Identify a Problem
    • Evidence to Support Change
    • Planning for Change
    • Implementing Change
    • Evaluating Change
    • Sustainability, Scale, and Spread
  • Resources
  • Implementation Series Modules
  • Success Stories
  • Support
  • Contact QH-TRIP
  • Interactive Tools
    • Stakeholder Mapping Tool
    • Program Logic Model
    • Project Evaluation
    • Readiness Assessment
    • The Fishbone / Ishikawa Diagram

Sustaining change over time

This stage focuses on sustaining, scaling, and spreading the changes you have implemented. It helps you plan for long-term impact and ensures improvements continue to benefit patients, teams, and services over time.

Systematic planning for sustainability – including considering key determinants, creating supportive conditions, and monitoring for drift – is essential for all TRIP projects. Monitoring practice drift helps identify when reinforcement or adaptation is needed. Sustainability planning should begin early, ideally during implementation design, to ensure resources, processes, and relationships are maintained beyond initial funding.

Sustainability, Scale, and Spread

Focus on sustaining, scaling, and spreading the change so improvements are maintained and adapted over time.

Visit the Implementation Masterclass at the CLE Learning Library to learn more.

What is the difference between sustainability, scale, and spread?

Sustainability

Sustainability focuses on maintaining an intervention’s use over time and adapting it so it remains effective in changing contexts.

Scale

Scale involves expanding the intervention so it reaches larger populations and increases its overall impact.

Spread

Spread refers to replicating and adapting the intervention across different settings or groups.

Together, sustainability, scale, and spread ensure that effective interventions are maintained, expanded, and adapted to new contexts for long-term system benefit.

Sustainability: Learn about the key constructs of sustainability.

Build a Plan for Change

Ready to ensure your project endures and grows? Use the sustainability tool to build your Sustainability, Scale, and Spread plan.

Open TRIP Change Builder – Sustainability, Scale and Spread

Want to learn more?

Access our implementation series modules

Take me to the Implementation Series Modules

Resources

Access additional resources below to build your knowledge about how to plan for sustainability, scale, and spread.

  • Introduction to Sustainability Frameworks
  • Developing a comprehensive definition of sustainability (Moore et al., 2017).
  • The dynamic sustainability framework: addressing the paradox of sustainment amid ongoing change (Chambers, Glasgow, & Stange, 2013).
  • NHS Sustainability Model and Guide

Research Translation Stories

Explore real-world TRIP stories from Queensland Health practitioners and teams translating evidence into practice.

View Research Translation Stories

QH-TRIP

QH-TRIP helps Hospital and Health Services (HHSs) bridge the gap between research and practice by strengthening workforce capability.

We acknowledge the Traditional Owners and custodians of the lands from across Queensland. We pay our respects to the Elders past and present for they are holders of the memories, traditions, the culture and aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Queensland.

© Queensland Health – Translating Research into Practice (QH-TRIP) (2025). Queensland Health, Brisbane. 2026