News
Northgate calls for right to bid for Darzi review's care quality
accounts
9 July 2008
In an initial response to the final report of the Darzi review,
Northgate Information Solutions has called for a ‘right to bid’ and an
‘invitation to implement’ quality measurement systems for the NHS.
In its response, Northgate argues that if the emphasis is going to
increasingly move away from quantity to the high quality of care, it is
essential that clinicians and NHS staff are involved and engaged, and
that services are built around individual need, rather than
organisational functionality.
All NHS organisations, and organisations providing care on behalf of
the NHS, have been set a challenging task to produce quality accounts by
April 2010 using a combination of national and local quality measurement
systems.
According to Northgate, quality measures will need to draw on the
disparate information sources that already exist to provide objective
data about clinical care, combined with the development of
people-related outcome measurements at a national and local level.
Northgate believes that for success to be sustained it is essential
that clinicians and health employees witness rapid and effective
implementation of their ideas and responsive and relevant measurements
of quality.
Through the introduction of a right for external organisations to
bring ideas to the table, complemented by the development of in-house
solutions that draw upon external support in the form of partnerships or
joint ventures, Northgate argues that these will help to create capacity
and capability within the NHS and create the basis for sustainable and
continuous improvement in measuring quality.
Ian Blackhurst, Managing Director of Northgate Health, said today: “I
believe that the NHS is a great institution that can only get better
through focusing on quality outcomes. Measuring quality is a major
challenge for the service at both a local and national level. We believe
that our proposals may go some way in helping to ensure that good ideas
benefit from great implementation.”
|
