1. Foreword
The aim of the Quality Strategy is to make Scotland one of the leading countries in the world in healthcare quality. This is an ambitious aim, but it is achievable and we are well placed to deliver it. The aim is pitched at a high level, but the means to achieving it will be built from the ground up. What will make Scotland a world leader will be the combined effect of millions of individual care encounters that are consistently person-centred, clinically effective and safe, for every person involved in the encounter, every time...
People in Scotland have told us that they need and want the following things from the NHS.
- Caring and compassionate staff and services
- Clear communication and explanation about conditions and treatment
- Effective collaboration between clinicians, patients and others
- A clean and safe care environment
- Continuity of care and good access to care
- Clinical excellence
Everybody delivering healthcare services in Scotland is motivated above all by the quality of service they provide in partnership with their colleagues, with patients and their families. Delivering compassionate care is at the very heart of clinical values and it is the cornerstone of mutuality.
The Quality Strategy represents a unique and important opportunity for all of us to work together to make our NHS even better, for everyone. We all need to share an understanding of what our respective expectations, roles and responsibilities are, and make a shared commitment to take the action required of each of us to make the changes needed to ensure that our NHS delivers the very best for us all, now and into the future.
This means patients and their families and carers embracing the opportunity to share decisions about care and treatment, understanding their responsibilities and rights, agreeing to build up their knowledge about the options available to them, and taking full advantage of the support and care offered to them.
It means that everyone working in NHS Scotland will review their approaches to developing relationship based care and shared decision making, taking advantage of resources and development support available to them.
It also means that the wider NHS and government systems need to change to recognise the need to provide resources, information, training and support. To reduce the number of initiatives, and targets set for NHSScotland, ensuring that only those which directly support the aims of the Quality Strategy are given priority, and making sure that the top priority is always the welfare and best interests of patients and their families and everyone working in the NHS - so that they are empowered and enabled to do the right things, every time.
By focusing on what really matters to people, we will raise the quality of healthcare from the current high standards to world-leading by concentrating on three areas:
1. Improving person centeredness by delivering care based on mutually empathetic relationships between staff, patients, carers and families - developing a coherent programme that will support everyone in making the shift to person centred care based on empathy and shared decision making. This will be informed by what we learn from staff and through patient reported experiences and outcomes.
2. Continuing to improve the safety of patients, no matter where they are receiving care. We will do this by spreading the Scottish Patient Safety Programme across acute care. We will also build on programmes to improve patient safety in mental health settings and in Primary Care. This will help to ensure that improvements in patient safety reach across the NHS on a sustainable basis with, for example a continued commitment to driving down infections.
3. Increasing the clinical effectiveness of care and treatment provided by NHSScotland and in partnership with other public and third sector bodies. We will do this by sharing and ensuring the best care for every patient, every time. We will also achieve this by removing unnecessary variation in treatments and approaches, and supporting people to manage their own conditions where possible, particularly those living with long term conditions.
We have chosen to focus on improvement in these 3 areas, as we believe that through our shared pursuit of these ambitions for every patient, every time, we will also continue to pursue maximum value for the investment we make in our healthcare services. There is clear evidence that improving effectiveness, safety and person centredness have significant positive impacts on reducing costs, and rely on maintaining the unprecedented improvements we have made in waiting times and access to primary, secondary and emergency healthcare services. We will also ensure that the high quality health services we deliver are provided on an equitable basis - to everyone in Scotland, no matter who they are, or where they live.