Improving the Role of NHS Boards in Quality Improvement

Improving the role of NHS boards in quality improvement: findings from a programme of research on how boards of NHS organisations govern for quality and safety

The Francis Inquiry Report reinforced the need for effective quality improvement strategies within NHS Trusts. A limited, but growing literature indicates that boards of health care organisations have an important role in leading and overseeing quality and safety. In this presentation, Naomi Fulop will draw on a programme of work on the role of NHS Trust boards in governing quality improvement. The current study builds on an EU FP7 funded comparative study of how quality is organised in hospitals in five European countries (the QUASER study). A key output from the QUASER study was a Guide for boards of health care organisations to develop their organisation-wide quality improvement strategies.

In partnership with an organisational development consultancy, the QUASER guide was subsequently implemented in six NHS Trusts. This was evaluated using a before and after study, with a comparator group of nine Trusts (the iQUASER study). In this free event, findings from this evaluation will be presented, together with findings of a parallel study of all 15 Trusts of which characteristics of boards might be linked to greater ‘maturity’ in relation to quality improvement. Publication from this parallel study are available at: http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/content/26/12/978