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The Importance of Standards

The Standards for Health Services in Wales:

  • Are at the heart of Together for Health, the 5-year strategic framework for the NHS;
  • Are key to underpinning the vision, values, governance and accountability of the NHS in Wales;
  • Drive continuous improvement in the quality and experience of services and care that citizens of Wales have a (reasonable) right to expect;
  • Provide a key tool, alongside the learning from 1,000 Lives Plus and other initiatives to drive continuous improvement; and
  • Support us in making changes and improvements at the front line of care to improve our performance, and to reduce harm, waste and variation within and across services

The standards framework facilitates the integration of all of these important and essential requirements and should be taken into account by all organisations and services when considering how they are meeting each and every individual standard.

 

Using the Standards in all that you do

Organisations must use the standards in an open, transparent and honest way.  How do you use the standards –

  • Throughout your organisation and services?
  • In embedding in all aspects of your work, including primary care, third sector and partnership working?
  • When planning, designing, developing and providing services?
  • To assure the quality of the services you provide?
  • To identify areas where you can reduce waste, variation and harm?
  • To promote sharing, learning and spread of good practice?

 

For each standard you need to ensure that the organisation and each service and team are doing the:

  • right thing,
  • at the right time,
  • in the right way,
  • to the right patient,
  • in the right place,
  • using the right staff, in the right way; and
  • demonstrating continuous improvement to keep doing things better and ensure that you know what you are doing well and what you need to do better

 

What does this mean for –

  • Patients, service users, carers and citizens?
  • Services, teams and staff?
  • Boards?

 

Patients, Service Users, Carers and Citizens

  • How do services use the standards to let patients, service users, carers and citizens know what they can expect
  • How are the standards used to:
    • Inform, involve and engage;
    • Capture, and respond to, experiences and outcomes?

 

Services, Teams and Staff

  • How do you use the standards alongside your professional standards to:
    • Identify what you do well and should share;
    • Identify what you do less well and need to put right; and
    • Deal with any concerns that you identify?
  • How are you supported to do this and make any improvements?

 

The Board

  • How does the Board demonstrate leadership in using and embedding the standards?
  • How does the Board support services and teams in their use and driving improvement?
  • How does the Board use the standards to seek and provide assurance about the quality of services provided?