High quality care for all NHS Next Stage Review - Antibiotic Action

High Quality Care For All – NHS Next Stage Review Final Report5115. In primary care, the Quality andOutcomes Framework alreadyprovides a range of valuable data onquality, particularly for the qualityof care for people with long-termconditions. Chapter 3 set out howwe will ensure GP practices willhave incentives and opportunitiesto engage in prevention activity. Wewill introduce a new strategy fordeveloping the Quality and OutcomesFramework, which will includean independent and transparentprocess for developing and reviewingindicators. We will discuss with NICEand with stakeholders includingpatient groups and professionalbodies how this new process shouldwork. We will discuss how to reducethe number of organisational orprocess indicators, and refocusresources on new indicators ofprevention and clinical effectiveness.We will explore the scope to givegreater flexibility to PCTs to workwith primary healthcare teams toselect quality indicators (from anational menu) that reflect localhealth improvement priorities.Publishing quality performance16. Commitments have been madeover a number of years to publishinformation on clinical effectiveness. 91Too often these commitments havebeen held up by uncertainties aboutwhat was needed to make progress91 The publication of surgical outcomes wasrecommended by the then Secretary of State forHealth’s Response to the Bristol Royal InfirmaryInquiry on 18 July 2001, who acknowledged thatthis would take time as such data needed to be“robust, rigorous and risk-adjusted.”and disagreements about who shouldbe in charge. This is unacceptable.We should be seeking to create amore transparent NHS. It may be acomplex task, but we should developacceptable methodologies and thencollect and publish information sothat patients and their carers canmake better informed choices, clinicalteams can benchmark, compareand improve their performance andcommissioners and providers canagree priorities for improvement.17. Therefore, to help make qualityinformation available, we will require,in legislation, healthcare providersworking for or on behalf of the NHSto publish their ‘Quality Accounts’from April 2010 – just as they publishfinancial accounts. These will bereports to the public on the quality ofservices they provide in every serviceline – looking at safety, experienceand outcomes. Easy-to-understand,comparative information will beavailable on the NHS Choices websiteat the same time. The Care QualityCommission will provide independentvalidation of provider andcommissioner performance, usingindicators of quality agreed nationallywith DH, and publish an assessmentof comparative performance.18.The CQC will publish an annualreport to Parliament on the provisionof NHS care within England. Buildingon the strengths of the HealthcareCommission and the Commission forSocial Care Inspection, the CQC willtherefore provide assurance for thepublic that information about thequality of care is reliable.