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6 - Improving Quality of Care

from Part 1 - The Public Health Toolkit

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2023

By
Nicholas Steel  and
Stephen Gillam
Edited by
Kirsteen Watson ,
Jan Yates  and
Stephen Gillam
Kirsteen Watson
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
Jan Yates
Affiliation:
NHS England and NHS Improvement
Stephen Gillam
Affiliation:
University of Cambridge
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Summary

Effective health-care makes a large and increasing contribution to preventing disease and prolonging life by reducing the population burden of disease. However, only the right kind of health-care delivered in the right way, at the right time, to the right person can improve health. Health-care interventions that are powerful enough to improve population health are also powerful enough to cause harm if incorrectly used. How can public health specialists know whether their interventions are having the desired effect? Clinicians can monitor the impact of their treatments on an individual patient basis, but how do we examine the impact of a new service? This chapter looks at what we mean by quality of health-care and considers some frameworks for its evaluation.

Keywords

Qualityquality improvementequityinequalitieseffectivenessevaluationoutcomesInverse care Lawadverse eventsregulationstandardsQOFauditclinical governancesignificant event
Type
Chapter
Information
Essential Public Health
Theory and Practice
 , pp. 108 - 123
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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