19 July 2010
Health ministers are seeking views on a way of measuring NHS success in terms of achieving results for patients rather than meeting ‘process’ targets.
A Department of Health consultation, launched today, is the first in a series to follow last week’s healthwhite paper.
The consultation document, Transparency in outcomes, sets out a series of outcome goals, which patients and the public can use to hold the health service to account and introduce greater transparency. These are grouped into five areas: preventing people from dying prematurely; enhancing the quality of life for people with long-term conditions; helping people recover from episodes of ill health; ensuring people have a positive experience of care; and treating people in a safe environment that protects them from avoidable harm.
Once agreed, the ‘outcome framework’ will guide the NHS Commissioning Board in determining how to achieve the selected results. It is expected to act as a ‘catalyst’ to improve quality, but the consultation document states: ‘It will not be used as a tool to performance manage providers of NHS care.’
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley said: ‘Instead of politically motivated targets that lack clinical evidence, we will measure the outcomes that are most important to patients and that are relevant to health care professionals.
‘These will be backed up authoritative, evidence-based quality standards that will ensure everyone understands how those outcomes can be achieved.'
The consultation closes on October 11. The Department of Health says it will publish its response by early November.
