Classification: Official
Publication reference: PRN01848_ii

To:

• NHS trust and integrated care board:
  • chairs
  • chief executives
  • chief nursing officers
  • medical directors
  • chief operating officers

cc:

• Regional directors
• Regional chief nurses
• Regional medical directors
• Regional primary care leads

Dear colleagues,

Quality strategy: actions for NHS organisations and partners

Today, we have published the Quality strategy for NHS-funded care in England – a 10-year framework for delivering high-quality care for all patients and communities.

Developed under the oversight of the National Quality Board (NQB), with engagement and contributions from a wide range of stakeholders, the strategy supports delivery of the government’s 10 Year Health Plan and its ambitions for greater transparency, a stronger patient and staff voice, and a renewed commitment to tackling inequalities.

The strategy does not introduce new policies or priorities. Instead, it brings together existing commitments and focuses on the areas where clear standards and proven approaches can deliver the greatest improvements. In doing so, it sets out a shared approach to quality across 3 interdependent domains:

• safety
• effectiveness
• experience

Progress across all 3 domains is essential to improving outcomes, reducing inequalities and delivering better value for the public. All 3 need to be prioritised at every level and in every organisation.

Delivering the strategy in practice

The strategy provides a shared framework for improving quality across NHS-funded care. Delivery of this wider ambition will be supported by national plans and strategies that set out how improvement will be achieved in specific areas of care. The National Cancer Plan and modern service frameworks are examples of how this approach will be put into practice.

Last week, the government published the Cardiovascular disease modern service framework, setting the national direction for achieving the government’s ambition to reduce premature deaths from heart attacks and strokes by 25% within a decade.

Today, alongside the strategy, we are publishing the Sepsis modern service framework, which sets out a comprehensive pathway-wide approach to improving sepsis outcomes through prevention, recognition, treatment, recovery, data and continuous improvement.

Call to action: a shared responsibility

The strategy asks something of everyone who leads, delivers or shapes NHS-funded care. For all integrated care boards, providers and partner organisations, this means:

• using the strategy to inform local plans, priorities and improvement programmes
• recognising the interdependence of safety, effectiveness and experience and considering all 3 in decision-making and performance oversight
• considering how the strategy’s recommendations on leadership, accountability, improvement, use of data and community engagement can strengthen local quality approaches

The ambition is simple: to create an NHS where high-quality care is the norm everywhere, for everyone. Achieving this will require commitment, consistency and collaboration across the whole system.

Thank you for your continued leadership and commitment to improving quality for patients.

Yours sincerely,

Professor Frankie Swords, National Medical Director, NHS England
Duncan Burton, Chief Nursing Officer for England, NHS England