National Quality Board

This page sets out the role, membership and work of the National Quality Board (NQB).

What is the National Quality Board?

The NQB is the principal national forum for quality across the healthcare system in England, bringing together leaders from NHS England, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), regulators, arm’s-length bodies and clinical leadership.

It provides collective system leadership to improve quality of care across the 3 core domains of:

  • safety
  • effectiveness
  • experience

Following its revitalisation in September 2025, the NQB has been repositioned as the single authoritative body on quality, supporting delivery of the 10 Year Health Plan and driving a coherent, aligned approach across the system.

It aims to secure a step change in the quality of health and social care in England, acting as both a decision-making forum and a source of strategic leadership, with a focus on reducing health inequalities

Quality strategy for NHS-funded care in England

As part of its renewed role, the NQB has published a strategy that sets out how quality will become the organising principle of care over the next decade.

Read the strategy

Work of the National Quality Board

The NQB:

  • sets national direction for quality
  • agrees priorities and metrics
  • provides oversight of key programmes to ensure consistent improvement and accountability across organisations and sectors
  • plays a central role in aligning policy, regulation and delivery

Its work supports how quality is defined, measured and improved across the system.

What the National Quality Board oversees

Under its refreshed remit, the NQB oversees delivery of major national quality priorities, including:

  • the development of the Quality strategy for NHS-funded care in England
  • modern service frameworks
  • a system-wide approach to quality metrics and transparency

It also leads the development of a recommendations and improvement framework, supports clarity on the roles of providers and systems in driving quality, and co-ordinates quality governance and risk escalation across national, regional and local structures.

Through this, the NQB ensures that insight, evidence and learning translate into sustained improvement at scale.

Chair

From September 2025, under interim arrangements, the NQB is co-chaired by:

  • Penny Dash (Chair of NHS England)
  • Kay Boycott (Interim Chair of the Care Quality Commission)

Under the new Department of Health and Social Care structure, the NQB will be co-chaired by a non-Executive director of the new DHSC and NHS England board.

Membership

Membership of the NQB in the interim arrangements comprises national and regional leaders across health care, social care and public health.

Other key stakeholders will be invited to specific discussions as appropriate, for example, professional regulators, Royal Colleges and other national bodies.

  • Penny Dash, Co-Chair and Chair of NHS England
  • Kay Boycott, Co-Chair and Chair of CQC
  • Robert Lechler, Non-Executive Director, NHS England
  • Louise Ansari, Non-Executive Director, NHS England
  • Sam Everington, Non-Executive Director, NHS England
  • Frankie Swords, National Medical Director, DHSC and NHS England
  • Duncan Burton, Chief Nursing Officer for England, DHSC and NHS England
  • Arun Chopra, Interim Chief Executive Officer, CQC
  • Sally Warren, Director General for Social Care, DHSC
  • Catherine Frances, Director General for Global, Public Health and Emergencies, DHSC
  • Paul Dinkin, Director General for Strategy and Healthcare Policy, DHSC and NHS England
  • William Vineall, Director of NHS Quality, Safety and Investigations, DHSC and NHS England
  • Director General for Patient Experience, DHSC and NHS England – covered in the Interim by Neil Churchill, Director of Patient Experience, NHS England
  • Jacob George, Chief Medical Officer, Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MRHA)
  • Tim Mitchell, Chair of Academy of Medical Royal Colleges
  • Rosie Benneyworth, Chief Executive Officer, Health Services Safety Investigations Body (HSSIB)
  • Adrian Hayter, Chief Medical Officer, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE)
  • Susan Hopkins, Chief Executive Officer, UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA)
  • Charlie Massey, Chief Executive and Registrar, General Medical Council

NQB partner organisations

Other publications