There are three quality ambitions:
- Person-centred: Mutually beneficial partnerships between patients, their families and those delivering healthcare services which respect individual needs and values and which demonstrate compassion, continuity, clear communication and shared decision-making. Find out more.
- Safe: There will be no avoidable injury or harm to people from healthcare they receive, and an appropriate, clean and safe environment will be provided for the delivery of healthcare services at all times. Find out more.
- Effective: The most appropriate treatments, interventions, support and services will be provided at the right time to everyone who will benefit, and wasteful or harmful variation will be eradicated. Find out more.
The Institute of Medicine’s six dimensions of quality are central to our approach to systems-based healthcare quality improvement:
- Person-centred: providing care that is responsive to individual personal preferences, needs and values and assuring that patient values guide all clinical decisions;
- Safe: avoiding injuries to patients from healthcare that is intended to help them;
- Effective: providing services based on scientific knowledge;
- Efficient: avoiding waste, including waste of equipment, supplies, ideas, and energy;
- Equitable: providing care that does not vary in quality because of personal characteristics such as gender, ethnicity, geographic location or socio-economic status; and
- Timely: reducing waits and sometimes harmful delays for both those who receive care and those who give care.
Quality Measurement Framework
The Quality Measurement Framework provides a structure for aligning the wide range of measurement that goes on across the NHS in Scotland for different purposes, describing how measurement helps to drive progress towards our Quality Ambitions and providing us with the ability to demonstrate improvement both locally and nationally.The three levels described by the framework provide a simplified structure for thinking about the intended use of sets of indicators. In summary:
Level 1 - Quality Outcome Indicators
The Quality Outcome Indicators (QOIs) are used for national reporting on longer term progress towards the Quality Ambitions and the Quality Outcomes. These are intended as indicators of quality, and will not have associated targets. It is expected that most Quality Outcome Indicators will be disaggregated geographically, and by equality groups, where possible, and appropriate.
Level 2 - HEAT Targets
Level 2 contains the HEAT targets, which describe the specific and short term priority areas for targeted action in support of the Quality Outcomes. These will be further aligned with the Quality Ambitions over time.
Level 3
Level 3 contains all other indicators/measures required for quality improvement and performance management and reporting, either by national programmes or locally.
