Quality of care

High-quality care can usually be defined in three parts: clinical effectiveness, safety and patient experience. We will be examining how NHS and social care organisations in England are improving quality and assessing their progress.

Overview

Related projects

Patient and Family-centred Care

Breaking new ground in improving the experience of hospital care for patients and their families, and the working lives of staff.

Patient experience

Patient experience means putting the patient and their experience at the heart of quality improvement. As well as our policy work on this vital measure of quality, we run a number of programmes that aim to improve patient experience in care environments.

See more related projects

The Francis Inquiry report

Anticipating the Francis Inquiry report

We analyse what the forthcoming recommendations might mean for the NHS, and what needs to change in the health system to protect patients.

Improving the quality of care for frail older people

Joanna Goodrich looks at the changes that can be made at all levels to significantly improve older people’s experience of care.

Reading Room & briefings

Want to know more?

For more resources on quality of care, including reading lists, database searches and useful web pages, visit our Reading Room.

Related briefings

See our briefings and responses on quality of care issues.

Featured publications

Developing supportive design for people with dementia The King’s Fund’s Enhancing the Healing Environment Programme 2009-2012

9 Jan 2013

Sarah Waller CBE

Abigail Masterson, Hedley Finn

Health policy under the coalition government A mid-term assessment

28 Nov 2012

Sarah Gregory, Anna Dixon, Chris Ham

See more related publications

Blogs on quality of care

Health care innovations in the United States: what lessons are there for the NHS?

3 Jun 2013

Chris Ham

We must end ageism and age discrimination in health and social care

29 May 2013

David Oliver

See more related blog posts

Relevant events

26 Sep 2013

Care co-ordination Key lessons and practical insights from the frontline

Venue:

The King's Fund, London, UK

8 May 2013

Integrated care summit 2013

Venue:

The King's Fund

See more related events

Relevant audio/video

Jeremy Hunt MP: patient-centred leadership and improving quality

Jeremy Hunt

Jeanette Ives Erickson: influencing professional nursing practice

Jeanette Ives Erickson

See more related audio/video

Useful articles

How do we create a climate that puts the needs of patients first?

23 May 2013

Are 'family and friends tests' useful: agree, disagree, neither, don’t know?

14 May 2013

See more on this topic

Relevant press releases

Public satisfaction with the NHS stabilises after record fall

3 Apr 2013

The King's Fund's statement on the government's response to the Francis Inquiry report

26 Mar 2013

See more related press releases

Our work on this topic

Multimedia: Video

Jeremy Hunt MP: patient-centred leadership and improving quality

11 Jun 2013

Jeremy Hunt

Multimedia: Slideshow

Stephen Welfare: putting clinical leadership at the heart of quality improvement

6 Jun 2013

Stephen Welfare

Multimedia: Video

Julie Bailey: a carer's perspective on leadership in the NHS

6 Jun 2013

Julie Bailey

Multimedia: Slideshow

Jeanette Ives Erickson: influencing professional nursing practice

6 Jun 2013

Jeanette Ives Erickson

Multimedia: Slideshow

John Appleby: pressures on accident and emergency services

4 Jun 2013

John Appleby

Event

Care co-ordination

4 Jun 2013

Page

Promoting a culture of high-quality care

3 Jun 2013

Blog

Health care innovations in the United States: what lessons are there for the NHS?

3 Jun 2013

Chris Ham

Blog

We must end ageism and age discrimination in health and social care

29 May 2013

David Oliver

Blog

There’s nothing quite like being there

28 May 2013

Jo Maybin

Pages