Frontline staff to have their say on NHS quality indicators
pharmafile | November 25, 2008 | News story | |Â Â NHS, hcÂ
Doctors and nurses are to decide on a series of quality indicators that will measure how well the NHS is treating patients.
The consultation follows on from health minister Lord Darzi's Next Stage Review conducted in the summer, which announced a move away from numerical targets to more quality-based ones.
The Department of Health has identified a variety of ways in which various parts of the NHS already measure performance.
Respondents to an online survey containing the proposed new indicators can rate them, adding comments and suggestions.
Staff are being invited to comment online on the indicator which applies to their specialism and to suggest other measures they may already use but which are not on the list.
There are 13 sections of indicators, each addressing areas such as safety, outcomes and process, and patient experience.
At present the suggestions range from timeliness to patient-reported outcome measures.
Any new ones will need to be applicable to a broad range of clinicians, nursing staff and other health professionals.
The idea is that the new measures should allow PCTs and hospital teams to benchmark themselves against other groups or a general national level.
Some regional indicators will be used to assess local schemes for improved healthcare produced by every Strategic Health Authority.
The government hopes this initiative will drive up standards of healthcare in the NHS, with all measures available at least annually, and more often where possible.
Health professionals have until 12 December to respond to questions on the NHS Information Centre's website www.ic.nhs.uk/cqi.
The first of the new measures will be introduced in acute services next April, with a quality framework for community services following after.
"We can only improve the quality of care we give to patients if we constantly and methodically measure it," said Lord Darzi.
"Developing a set of quality indicators in partnership with frontline staff will allow clinicians to measure their team's performance in a constant strive to improve and compare it with their peers across the NHS."
"I want NHS staff to work together to develop useful and meaningful measures of their work. This will help improve the entire patient experience by delivering safer and more effective care," he concluded.
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