About Quality Accounts
A Quality Account is a report about the quality of services offered by an NHS healthcare provider.
The reports are published annually by each provider, including the independent sector, and are available to the public.
Quality Accounts are an important way for local NHS services to report on quality and show improvements in the services they deliver to local communities and stakeholders.
The quality of the services is measured by looking at patient safety, the effectiveness of treatments patients receive, and patient feedback about the care provided.
The Department of Health and Social Care requires providers to submit their final Quality Account to the Secretary of State by June 30 each year, by uploading it to their own website and forwarding the link to:
- NHS providers – quality-accounts@nhs.net
- Independent providers – QualityAccounts@dhsc.gov.uk
The requirement is set out in the Health Act 2009.
Amendments were made in 2012, such as the inclusion of quality indicators according to the Health and Social Care Act 2012.
NHS England or clinical commissioning groups (CCGs)/ Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) cannot make changes to the reporting requirements.
The Quality Accounts FAQs provides guidance on how to produce and publish your Quality Account, including:
- what to include in a Quality Account
- who to share your Quality Account with
- how to publish your organisation’s Quality Account
- how to access the indicator data through the NHS Digital indicator portal
Refresh of Quality Accounts
The National Quality Board has approved a refresh of Quality Accounts to update and improve the process, bringing it in line with changes to legislation and NHS structures and policy.
Clarification to the quality accounts audit guidance
On page 20 of the Quality Accounts audit guidance, Mandated Indicator 19 should read:
The data made available to the NHS trust or NHS foundation trust by NHS Digital with regard to the percentage of patients aged
- (i) 0 to 15; and
- (ii) 16 or over
readmitted to a hospital that forms part of the trust within 28 days of being discharged from a hospital that forms part of the trust during the reporting period.