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

52 4: Quality at the heart of everything we do419. I know that patients, staff and thepublic all want an NHS that is asgood as any healthcare system in theworld. Meeting this aspiration willrequire us to understand how weperform compared to other advancedhealthcare systems. So we will workwith other Organisation for EconomicCooperation & Development (OECD)countries and with the best academicinstitutions in the world and draw onour new national quality frameworkto agree some internationallycomparable measures.Recognising and rewardingquality improvement20. The NHS should recognise andreward quality improvement. Thismeans putting the right incentives inplace to support high quality care.21. We will ensure that from April 2009the payment system for providersof NHS services is improved so thatit better reflects clinical practice,recognises complexity of care –including the most specialisedservices – and supports innovation. 92As outlined in Chapter 3, theCommissioning for Quality andInnovation Scheme (CQUIN) will alsosupport local drives for improvement,concentrating on those aspectsof quality that most need localattention.22. We also want organisations thatreceive NHS funds to be able toplan for long-term improvements92 For more on the new version of HealthcareResource Groups (HRG4), which will be used aspart of the Payment by Results funding system,please see www.ic.nhs.ukto patient care and ensure bestvalue. For that reason, we will setout projections for tariff uplift andefficiency gains on a multi-year basis,aligning with future Spending Reviewperiods and PCT allocations cycles.23. Finally, to ensure we apply theseprinciples as widely as possible, wewill also extend payment and pricingsystems to cover other services. Forexample, for mental health services,we will develop national currenciesavailable for use from 2010/11.This will allow the comparisonand benchmarking of mentalhealth services, supporting goodcommissioning.Raising standards24. The locally owned nature of thisReview has reinforced my belief thatchange is most effective not onlywhen it responds clearly to patientneeds but also when it is drivenby clinicians based on their expertknowledge of conditions andcare pathways. Change has notalways been managed this way inthe NHS. We will therefore put astrong clinical voice at every level inthe NHS and we will increase ouroverall capacity to act on standardsand information that support qualityimprovement. Where we haveempowered local clinicians, they haverisen to the challenge and deliveredreal improvements for their patients.25. We will support clinical teamsand clinical directors to developtheir practice through peerreview, continuing professionaldevelopment and professional