“NHS foundation trusts are leading the way in reporting on their performance on service quality, using Quality Accounts, as the report rightly recognises. It is particularly pleasing that all FTs gave the auditors the assurance they needed on the content of the reports and that 80 per cent of demonstrated that they had clear governance arrangements in place.”
“Quality Accounts are in their infancy. All foundation trusts have shown that they can get the fundamentals right when reporting on quality, and many foundation trusts, including those highlighted in the report, are excelling. There is no doubt that with the basics in place on reporting that more and more FTs will grasp the opportunity to integrate the accounts into their overall quality improvement processes and to ensure these are properly owned by boards. Foundation trust governors, representing local people and stakeholders, give FTs a unique means of engaging with their patients, services users and communities, to understand local expectations around quality, to set priorities and to monitor performance.“