NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, publish a lot of products. One of the best (in my opinion) is Quality Standards (QS). Quality Standards can be measured, and this was one of the most important lessons for me when I started my role as a NICE implementation Project Manager at Pennine Care NHS Foundation Trust. I had heard of and even read a few QS in my previous NHS roles, but moving into my new team (Clinical Effectiveness and Quality Improvement) I began to see how valuable they are. They differ from guidance because they are more specific. Clinicians can find recommendations frustrating, but standards are much more focused.
I work in a team with Clinical Audit Professionals and we often discuss QS. They are a ready-made tool for anyone to use as the basis of a Clinical Audit. In fact I can’t believe we don’t audit against them all (I can really believe it, but in an ideal world…).
They are also amazing because they cover areas where there is variation in care. If used well they can help to reduce ‘postcode lottery’. Some National Clinical Audits capture the uptake of NICE. You can find out if any NICE Products have been included in a national audit using the NICE uptake data on the NICE website, here.
Our team is made up of NICE Implementation, Clinical Audit and Policy Management working closely together. We ensure that Clinical Audit is used to measure the use of NICE products and, where possible, that all trust policy reflects NICE.
All Trust policies have a set of standards which we audit against; we use NICE Quality Standards for these if they are available. With all of this in mind I am keen to promote NICE QS to healthcare staff who would like to use Clinical Audit or Quality Improvement Methodologies to measure and improve patient care. Clinical Audit Awareness Week 2019 is the perfect opportunity for me to do this.
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