Quality objectives for healthcare improvements are falling short according to new research commissioned by the CQI.
The CQI’s extensive survey of healthcare staff shows that the government’s rhetoric on quality improvement in the NHS is not matched by the reality.
The research shows that NHS staff are sceptical about quality initiatives. Three quarters of respondents said that the government’s Quality, Innovation, Productivity and Prevention (QIPP) programme has had no real impact on quality and 42% said it had a negative impact. Over half of those interviewed said the Health Bill fails to reflect any aspect of quality.
The Chief Executive of the CQI, Simon Feary, said:
“Our research reveals that the status of quality, from the point of view of those that work in the NHS, is very far from the government’s stated aims of placing quality improvement front and centre of the NHS reforms. Yet prioritising quality, and the measures to deliver and assess them, is vital if ambitions for quality improvement are to be realized.
“From driving staff behaviours and ensuring whole organizational commitment, from engaging patients to improving patient care and from delivering service re-design and cost savings, quality is key.”
Quality in healthcare has many facets, including clinical quality, operational effectiveness, patient experience and financial outcomes. The CQI’s research reveals that NHS professionals feel financial outcomes and operational effectiveness are taking precedence through government initiatives, to the detriment of clinical quality and patient experience aspirations. The research also identifies a lack of leadership on quality in the NHS.
The CQI recommends the development of a more coherent definition of quality which is enshrined within a National Quality Framework. It also recommends that NHS professionals are made aware of their role in delivering quality through the introduction of widespread quality training programmes and by enshrining quality objectives in staff objectives and performance appraisals.
The CQI, the body that represents 10,000 quality professionals, says that quality in healthcare should be operated in accordance with internationally recognized quality standards and, vitally, be independently assessed. The CQI’s research also examines the barriers to quality, the role of targets in improving quality, forms of patient engagement, where NHS professionals source their quality information and what they believe has had the biggest impact on quality.