New Indicators Will Help Drive Quality Improvement In The NHS, UK

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 18 May 2009 - 4:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   opinions  

A list of more than 200 indicators of high quality care in the NHS is being published for the first time to help clinicians drive up the quality of care they deliver to patients, the Department of Health and The NHS Information Centre announced today.

The Indicators for Quality Improvement will help measure the quality of care clinicians deliver, highlight areas for improvement and track the changes they implement. They span the three dimensions of high quality care: patient safety, effectiveness of care and patient experience.

Clinicians can choose from the list the indicators that are most relevant to their work. The indicators are a key outcome from Lord Darzi's report 'High Quality Care for All in which he noted that high performing teams already measure the quality of care they deliver and benchmark their work against their peers.

Health Minister, Lord Darzi said:

"These quality indicators have been developed in partnership with frontline staff. This initial list is just the start of a NHS wide resource that will challenge and stimulate NHS staff to drive up the quality of care they deliver to patients."

At this stage, the aim is to enable clinicians to fully understand the indicators, their methodology and source. Within the next few months, we will publish data that will enable local clinical teams to compare themselves with others as the basis for local quality improvement.

Over the next three to five years the list will be further developed to improve depth of coverage across all care pathways and quality dimensions.

Notes

1. The Indicators for Quality Improvement are on The NHS Information Centre Website http://www.ic.nhs.uk/mqi

2. Each of the 232 indicators has gone through an initial selection process to make sure it is suitable. This process was sponsored by five Royal Colleges and the British Cardiovascular Society, and canvassed the views of frontline staff from across the NHS.

3. The process used to develop this initial list of clinical indicators included:

- An online survey to gather feedback on more than 400 acute care indicators already in use in parts of the NHS
- NHS-led work to develop regional indicators for the ten year plans for improving the quality of care described in each SHA's local vision document
- Engagement with royal colleges and other professional bodies

4. The Royal Colleges that sponsored the survey of acute care indicators and continue to play a role in the development of Indicators for Quality Improvement are:

- Royal College of Surgeons
- Royal College of Physicians
- Royal College of Anaesthetists
- Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
- Royal College Psychiatrists

Source
Department Of Health, UK

• Additional
• References
• Citations