Measuring impact in health improvement

"This guide provides a practical introduction to impact assessment and takes you through the basic steps of how to plan and deliver an impact assessment project."

Measuring impact in health improvement: an accessible guide for health practitioners
Local Government Improvement and Development
January 2011

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Large scale organisational intervention to improve patient safety in four UK hospitals

"Quality of monitoring of sick patients improved in control hospitals and in hospitals participating in the Safer Patients Initiative, but control hospitals did not improve as much as intervention hospitals;"

Large scale organisational intervention to improve patient safety in four UK hospitals: mixed method evaluation
A Benning, M Ghaleb, A Suokas, M Dixon-Woods, J Dawson, N Barber, B Dean Franklin, A Girling, K Hemming, M Carmalt, G Rudge, T Naicker, U Nwulu, S Choudhury, R Lilford
British Medical Journal, 2011 342:d195

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A related article, looking at the second phase of this research, is available here.

Is quality of care improving in the UK?

"...the study provides convincing evidence that safety and quality improved in NHS hospitals in England over the study period (about 18 months)."

Is quality of care improving in the UK? Yes, but we do not know why
PJ Pronovost, SM Berenholtz, LL Morlock
British Medical Journal, 2011 342:c6646

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Disease management evaluation

"Many countries in Europe are experimenting with new, structured approaches to better manage the care of patients with chronic illness and so improve its quality and ultimately patient health outcomes."

Disease management evaluation: a comprehensive review of current state of the art
A Conklin, E Nolte
RAND Europe Technical Report
December 2010

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High-value, cost-conscious health care

"This article discusses 3 key concepts for understanding how to assess the value of health care interventions."

High-value, cost-conscious health care: concepts for clinicians to evaluate the benefits, harms, and costs of medical interventions
DK Owens, A Qaseem, R Chou, P Shekelle
Annals of Internal Medicine, 2011 154(3):174-180

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What's leadership got to do with it?

"Investing in leadership development of mid-career health professionals with significant leadership potential leads to a sustainable impact on the quality of health care quality; the impact achieved represents a good return on the investment made."

What's leadership got to do with it? Exploring links between quality improvement and leadership in the NHS
The Health Foundation
January 2011

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Leading for outcomes

"This guide aims to provide support on how to lead teams in the adoption and implementation of an outcomes-focused approach."

Leading for outcomes: a guide
Institute for Research and Innovation in Social Services
2010

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Joined-up care delivering seamless care

"Joined-up care has long been advocated as a way of meeting the needs of patients with complex conditions."

Joined-up care delivering seamless care: a practical guide to making change happen
C Robertson, H Baxter, M Mugglestone, L Maher
NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement
2010

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Improving healthcare quality at scale and pace

This is the full report describing the lessons learned from The Productive Ward: Releasing time to care programme.

Improving healthcare quality at scale and pace
King's College London and NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement
2010

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How health systems make available information on service providers

"This report reviews information systems that report on the quality or performance of providers of healthcare in seven countries to inform the use and further development of quality information systems in the English NHS."

How health systems make available information on service providers: experience in seven countries
M Cacace, S Ettelt, L Brereton, J Pedersen, E Nolte
RAND Corporation
2011

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Safer patients initiative

The Health Foundation has published three documents describing the results and lessons learned from a mixed-method evaluation of a large-scale organisational intervention to improve patient safety in four UK hospitals.

1. Safer patients initiative: phase one
   
2. Safer patients initiative: phase two
   
3. Safer patients initiative: learning report

Feeling better? Improving patient experience in hospital

"This report looks at what we know about improving patients' experiences of hospital care and shares the approaches of both UK and USA hospital providers that have made significant progress in providing services that are truly patient-centred."

Feeling better? Improving patient experience in hospital
NHS Confederation
2010

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Discovering - and lowering - the real costs of health care

Professors Robert Kaplan and Michael Porter, at Harvard Business School, are conducting pilot projects set in major health care delivery organisations. They are investigating total costs for a number of medical conditions, and also comparing total costs incurred to treat the same medical condition by two different providers, one in the U.S. and one in Germany.

Discovering - and lowering - the real costs of health care
ME Porter
Harvard Business Review
2011

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Economic case for improving efficiency and quality in mental health

This document outlines the opportunities to make value for money savings in delivering mental health services using the QIPP approach, and by promoting early intervention and prevention of mental health problems. This paper supports No health without mental health.

No health without mental health: A cross-Government mental health outcomes strategy for people of all ages: Supporting document - The economic case for improving efficiency and quality in mental health
Department of Health
2 February 2011

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