King's Fund launches quality service

The King's Fund has launched an independent quality improvement and accreditation organisation, which aims to improve patients' experience of the NHS.

The first part of the Health Quality Service's agenda is to develop new standards of outcome measurement for patient satisfaction, staff motivation, clinical effectiveness, service efficiency, and service access. The service will also enhance the corporate management standards and put particular emphasis on quality of leadership and team work.

Another aim of the new organisation is to encourage other organisations involved in quality in health care to come together, perhaps in an association. From 1999 onwards the service intends to provide quality assurance support for clinical services as well as to organisations.

The service, which has been formed in response to the emphasis in the government's NHS white papers on raising quality standards and working collaboratively, will remain part of the King's Fund. It will gradually become a more separate and specialised service.

Mr Peter Griffiths, the service's executive director, said that it aimed to establish a culture focused …