Healthcare quality and efficiency support team: annual report 2013

Foreword

John Connaghan
Director for Health Workforce and Performance

Linda Semple
Interim Head of QuEST

We're very pleased to present this Annual Report and to have the opportunity to highlight the many achievements of NHSScotland during 2012-13, as we continue to improve the safety, effectiveness, experience and responsiveness of healthcare services within the context of a challenging financial environment.

This report highlights the significant inroads NHSScotland has made to delivering sustainable change across the healthcare system. The quality agenda is now firmly embedded throughout NHSScotland from board level, and crucially, to staff delivering front-line care to patients.

The case studies included within the report illustrate the excellent work that has been carried out by NHS Boards across Scotland. Many of these case studies provide innovative solutions to the challenges facing NHS Boards and we urge you to review these to identify examples of good practice that may be applicable in your local context.

NHS Boards have implemented these sustainable and innovative ways of delivering quality services whilst also achieving significant cash releasing savings and productive gains (i.e. time releasing savings). During 2012-13 NHS Boards reported efficiency savings of £270 million, as a result, over the last five years, efficiency savings of over £1 billion have been retained by NHS Boards and used to further enhance services.

The Quality and Efficiency Support Team (QuEST) supports NHS Boards to deliver improvements in quality and efficiency through a number of national programmes. Working in partnership with NHS Boards, QuEST tests and spreads emerging innovations and best practice across NHSScotland to enable delivery of key NHS priorities.

This report highlights some of the key achievements of the national programmes and also sets out our priorities for the coming year. It is imperative that NHSScotland continues to drive quality improvements which increase efficiency and productivity in order to deliver NHSScotland's vision for the future.

NHSScotland's 2020 Vision is that 'by 2020 everyone is able to live longer healthier lives at home, or in a homely setting'. A Route Map to the 2020 Vision for Health and Social Care (Route Map), launched at the NHSScotland Event in June 2013, supports this aim for integrated, sustainable and high-quality health and social care.

QuEST will play a key part in supporting NHSScotland to deliver the priority areas for improvement identified within the Route Map. These priority areas will need to be addressed within the context of on-going financial challenge. It is essential that we continue to innovate and spread best practice and creative solutions to enable us to continue to deliver world-class services to the patients and citizens of Scotland.