Follow us on twitter: @csjmagazine New NHS quality framework


The National Quality Board (NQB) has published a new framework that will promote improved quality criteria across all national health organisations. The new publication provides a nationally agreed definition of quality and guide for clinical and managerial leaders wanting to improve quality. The approach has been agreed by the national bodies that form the NQB to provide more consistency and to enable the system to work together more effectively. It is part of work to cut unnecessary red tape by reducing duplication and aligning demands on professionals for information on the quality of services.


The document sets out a range of measures to achieve higher and consistent standards including: the need for a common language that people who use services understand; to ensure commissioners and providers experience a coherent system of assurance, measurement and regulation; that professionals and staff are equipped and empowered to deliver safe, effective, and responsive care; and leaders should create a culture where people feel free to speak up when something goes wrong.


Despite improvements in quality in recent years, there is still variation in quality within and between organisations, areas and populations, as noted in the CQC’s recent State of Care report. Improving quality alongside health and wellbeing, finance and efficiency is a key ambition of the Five Year Forward View and underpins the development of Sustainability and Transformation Plans at a local level. Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s Medical Director and co-chair of the NQB, said: “Health care services around the world are facing the combined challenges of rising demands and difficult financial circumstances. It is vital that quality remains the fundamental aim of our work in the NHS and that we need to continue to provide the very best care possible, as we adapt to these difficult challenges. “Responsibility for quality is shared across the health and care system, and while national guidance can provide consistency, actual change will be driven by the professionals and


staff who we know are committed to providing patients with the very best care possible. This shared vision of quality is a response to the call for a consistent approach and we hope it will act as a further catalyst for improvement by leaders at what is a critical time for change in the health sector.” Professor Sir Mike Richards, CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals and co-chair of the NQB, said: “CQC’s State of Care report highlighted variation in quality in all the sectors it regulates – between providers and even between different services from the same provider. The first step in improving quality is for us to have a common view of what we mean by it. The NQB’s single shared view of quality envisages person-centred services that are safe, effective, caring, responsive, and well-led, and which use resources in a sustainable way. “This document sets out our commitment to


quality, and we’ll demonstrate that commitment in practical ways. For example by using the National Quality Board to co-ordinate work on quality across health and care, and commissioning work from others that supports quality improvement. We are also aligning the way we assess and support leadership, which should make it easier for providers to demonstrate the good leadership that staff and people who use services rely on.”


The Shared Commitment to Quality sets out a single, shared view of quality and the steps that can help organisations close the quality gap. It states that success will also depend on ensuring that the people who lead health and care services have the right support to encourage a culture that promotes quality. This support is described in a Framework for Action from the National Improvement and Leadership Development board, which will help deliver the ambition of the Shared Commitment to Quality. The Shared Commitment to Quality can be found at https://www.england.nhs.uk/ ourwork/part-rel/nqb/ Framework for Action from the National Improvement and Leadership Development board can be found at https://improvement.nhs.uk/resources/ developing-people-improving-care/


NEWS


HIFU shows promise for treating prostate cancer


EDAP TMS has announced the results of a study using High Intensity Focused Ultrasound for localised prostate cancer which demonstrates promising oncologic outcomes with low side effects. The prospective, independent, multi-centre study conducted by the French Urological Association (AFU) was designed to evaluate HIFU hemiablation (treatment of the half of the prostate where the tumour is located, sparing the rest of the gland) as a primary treatment for localised, unilateral prostate cancer. In the study, 111 patients received focal hemiablation using HIFU with the medical device called Ablatherm HIFU at 10 different clinical institutions. Control biopsies were performed one year following treatment, with 95% of subjects showing absence of clinically significant cancer on the treated side. The study also showed very low side effects with continence preserved in 97% of patients at one year and erectile function preserved in 78% of patients. There was no significant decrease in Quality of Life score observed at 12 months, and the rate of radical treatment free survival at two years was 89%, meaning that only 11% of patients underwent surgery or radiotherapy. Pascal Rischmann, lead author on the study, said: "This study supported by the French Association of Urology builds upon the interest in focal therapy and demonstrates its role in the management of prostate cancer based on quality of life preservation and efficacy. I have long thought HIFU was an ideal ablation modality for focal therapy and this is substantiated by the study results." The results of the study are published in the journal European Urology.


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CATERHAM SURGICAL SUPPLIES LTD Unit 16, IO Centre Croydon Road, Croydon CR0 4WQ Tel: 020 8683 1103 l Fax: 020 8683 1105 l Email: martin@caterhamsurgical.co.uk l www.caterhamsurgical.co.uk FEBRUARY 2017 WWW.CLINICALSERVICESJOURNAL.COM I 9


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