NHS Improvement

Last updated
NHS Improvement
NHS Improvement logo.svg
Non-departmental public body overview
Formed1 April 2016 (2016-04-01)
Dissolved30 June 2022 (2022-06-30)
Superseding agency
JurisdictionEngland
HeadquartersWellington House, 133-155 Waterloo Road, London
Non-departmental public body executives
Parent department Department of Health and Social Care
Website improvement.nhs.uk OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

NHS Improvement (NHSI) was a non-departmental body in England, responsible for overseeing the National Health Service's foundation trusts and NHS trusts, as well as independent providers that provide NHS-funded care. It supported providers to give patients consistently safe, high quality, compassionate care within local health systems that are financially sustainable.

Contents

A previous body – also called NHS Improvement – was set up in April 2008 to drive clinical service improvement, [1] but was merged into NHS Improving Quality in 2013 [2] following the Health and Social Care Act reforms.

From 1 April 2016, NHS Improvement was the operational name for an organisation that brought together Monitor, NHS Trust Development Authority, Patient Safety (from NHS England), National Reporting and Learning System, Advancing Change Team and Intensive Support Teams.

In 2018 it became clear that the organisation, while maintaining its statutory independence, was for practical reasons to be merged with NHS England, and seven "single integrated regional teams" would be jointly established. [3] In February 2021, the government confirmed its intention to merge NHS Improvement into NHS England in its Integration and innovation white paper. [4] The merger took place on 1 July 2022, at which point NHS Improvement ceased to exist, with its two legal entities, Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority, being abolished.[ citation needed ]

Leadership

From 1 April 2019, NHS Improvement and NHS England worked together as a single organisation in the management of England's National Health Service, which had implications for the organisations' leadership. [5]

NHS Executive Group

In 2021, the NHS Executive Group were: [6]

NHS Improvement Board

In 2021, the NHS Improvement Board were: [7]

Non-executive directors

Executive directors

  • Professor Stephen Powis, National Medical Director and Interim NHS Improvement Chief Executive Officer
  • Julian Kelly, Chief Financial Officer
  • Ruth May, Chief Nursing Officer for England

Learning from Mistakes League

In 2016, NHS Improvement published a league table of the 230 NHS trusts according to their openness and transparency. The 'Learning from Mistakes League' table classified trusts into four categories:

  1. Outstanding levels of openness and transparency - 18;
  2. Good levels of openness and transparency - 102;
  3. Significant concerns about openness and transparency - 78;
  4. Poor reporting culture -32.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust was placed first and East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust was at the bottom. [8] Claire Murdoch, chief executive of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, placed 125th, complained that the league had a “significant methodological flaw in terms of fairness” because it implied that there were significant differences between ranks 120 and 121, and because, she complained, the assessments were not carried out consistently and the large amount of information trusts reported monthly to the Care Quality Commission were not taken into account. [9]

Pathology network

In September 2017 a plan was produced to create 29 pathology networks across England in a bid to save £200 million. 1.12 billion tests are performed per year, at a cost of £2.2 billion. [10]

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References

  1. "Welcome to the Stroke Improvement Website". NHS Improvement. November 2008. Archived from the original on 12 November 2008. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  2. "Sustainable Improvement Team". NHS England. Retrieved 13 July 2016.
  3. "Seven regions planned in NHS England and NHS Improvement 'integration'". Health Service Journal. 27 March 2018. Retrieved 27 May 2018.
  4. "Integration and innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all". UK Government. 11 February 2021. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  5. "Creating coherent system leadership". NHS England. 24 May 2018. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  6. "NHS England » NHS Executive Group". www.england.nhs.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  7. "NHS Improvement board members". nhs.uk. Retrieved 13 August 2021.
  8. "Hospital transparency league table published". Digital Health. 11 March 2016. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
  9. "Transparency league table problems not a 'question of competence'". Health Service Journal. 30 March 2016. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  10. "NHSI reveals nationwide pathology network plan". Health Service Journal. 11 September 2017. Retrieved 9 October 2017.