Quality improvement

In the wake of the Lucy Letby case, new professional regulation is likely to be introduced. Suzie Bailey explores what will be needed from any new regulation.

Listening to people’s experience of services – good and bad - is as important to improving quality as crunching the data, writes Simon Bottery.

Nicholas Timmins celebrates the twentieth anniversary of the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence and considers the challenges ahead.

Does the recommissioning of the Academic Health Science Networks’ patient safety collaboratives mark a renewed commitment to quality improvement for the NHS? In this blog, Ben Collins considers the NHS’s relationship with quality improvement and the challenges it faces in bringing about real improvements in quality.

How can we maximise the impact of CQC’s regulatory action in health and social care? It takes two at least: CQC, providers and other system partners all need to contribute.

Following on from our recent report on the impact of the Care Quality Commission's approach to regulation, Navina Evans, Chief Executive of East London NHS Foundation Trust, writes about their experience of the inspection regime.

Mathew Mathai, Consultant Paediatrician at Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, explains how the concept of a ‘virtual hospital’ and keeping patients out of hospital where possible has helped to improve quality and reduce costs.

CQC must ensure it creates a mix of regulatory tools that work together to efficiently assure people’s overall experience of care, rather than simply adding a layer of regulation to a health and care system that is already one of the most heavily regulated in the world.

Focusing on just one of these priorities can seem more straightforward, but that is not the reality of life for NHS leaders and is not the right approach, says Matthew Kershaw.

Neil Guha considers how we can encourage a spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship in the NHS so it is perceived as a critical component of how we function rather than an optional extra.