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Initiatives

[Initiatives]
[What you get for your money]
[Themes]

Ensuring Quality

What is it all about?

'Ensuring Quality' is one of the themes within a new initiative from the NDT. This theme aims to:

• that people with learning disabilities get the best possible value from the support services they receive;
• give tools and support to service organisations so that they continually learn from their own experience and the experience of people using services, in order to provide high quality, value for money services.
• actively support organisations that commission, monitor and set standards, to ensure that 'best value' services are established and maintained and are subject to a process of continuous improvement.
• support organisations whether they commission, purchase or provide services, to integrate quality issues and measures into their strategic planning for service delivery.

Although the NDT's main interest is in services for people with learning disabilities, we recognise that the aims and the spirit of the 'Ensuring Quality' theme are applicable to all human services (elderly people, people with mental health problems, disabled people etc.) We therefore intend to work across all such services where this makes sense.

What do we mean by 'quality', 'best value', 'value for money'?

The NDT believes that the quality of services to people with health and social care needs is ultimately judged in terms of the experience of people. Are they supported to have good lives? Are they helped to be healthy? Do they get assistance to solve problems? Are they listened to and heard?

There is no simple way of measuring 'quality of life' and a number of approaches may be needed. We recognise that money plays an important part in the delivery of services. As part of the work on the Ensuring Quality theme, we plan to develop and use a range of approaches to the assessment of quality, focusing particularly on people's experience of receiving services, but also paying attention to other important factors.

How will Ensuring Quality work?

The programme will work with 8 Development Partners, ideally over three years to develop, implement and disseminate:

• Standards for services, incorporating quality of life issues as well as other important considerations;
• A Quality Audit process which will enable agencies to assess the range of mechanisms in place to monitor and improve their service quality;
• Quality Strategy Development - which will support the review and development of quality services throughout a locality, organisation or alliance of organisations;
• Quality Manifesto - we plan to assemble the work of the Development Partnerships over the first three years into a Quality Manifesto which will set out the combined learning and experience of the partnership and include guidance for organisations throughout the UK and Europe;
• Action Learning - Partners will be encouraged and supported to establish their own development projects and to share learning through regular action learning group meetings;

As part of the Ensuring Quality theme of work, the NDT is collaborating with the British Institute of Learning Disabilities to establish the Quality Network. This is a network of organisations which provide services to people with learning disabilities and who have made a commitment to regular review of the experience of people who use their services, to plan for improvement and to share learning. Development Partners with Ensuring Quality will have access to the experience of the Quality Network as well as the benefits offered to all Development Partnerships detailed in the brochure.

We know that this is an area of particular interest to government departments, including the Dept. of Health and Ensuring Quality will have regular opportunities to influence policy at all levels.

If you are commissioning, providing or monitoring services in health and social care, this is a cost effective, dynamic way to develop your quality strategies.

[The Quality Network]

Last updated : 2 August 2001

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