Training Blog

Under a new Strategic Health Authority Initiative nurses will be able to compare the quality of patient care against other trusts in England. The initiative ‘Energise for Excellence in Care’ is designed to improve fundamental nursing care, it is hoped that the tool should be available on website for the NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement after it has been adapted.

The new tool is based on the ‘acuity/dependency’ tool which was developed by the Association of UK University Hospitals, which helps to categorise patients depending on their conditions (for example ‘stable’ or ‘unstable’) which can then be used to help inform staffing levels, skill mix and workforce development needs.

It is hoped that the new tool will enable nurses to deliver evidence-based care, that will include the development of new services where appropriate. In order to improve quality patient care indicators are key according to Lord Darzi’s Next Stage Review of the NHS, which was published summer 2008. In May 2009 a list of over 200 indicators that could be used to improve services across the NHS was published by the Government.

The Chief Executive David Nicholson will take personal responsibility for the ‘quality, innovation, productivity and prevention’ (or QIPP). It is also the focus of the DH management board. The Department of Health funded initiative; “Energise for Excellence in Care” is being led by senior nurses. Although it is hoped that this initiative will help the QIPP initiative it is important to stress that it also has wider goals, such as getting the nurses to focus on the things that really matter to patients. The initiative is also designed to give nurses permission to say what needs to be done and encourage nurses to reflect on the quality of the care that they are providing.

If nurses are consistently providing high quality care it may reduce costs for the NHS as fewer mistakes will be made and morale will improve as it is well known that low morale is detrimental to productivity and in this case patients. For more information see How morale levels affect the workplace