Foundation Trusts are keen to play their role as major providers of health care - but all recognise that the agenda is challenging and there is a long way to go to bring about improvements that all stakeholders want to see.
In today’s world, the impact that FTs have on their local economies and communities as well on patients and their families is substantial. FTs are leading the way both in terms of providing the highest quality of care as well as now moving towards a holistic understanding of what makes a quality organisation.
The FTN has a number of streams of work on quality. Our current priority is assisting FTs in the development of Quality Accounts and a series of workshops were held to support members on this.
For FTs, Quality Accounts, as well as being a means of demonstrating public accountability on the quality of services, are a key driver for quality improvement. Whilst there will be national demands for benchmarkable information across foundation trusts, the key to making the accounts work is engaging local stakeholders in a dialogue to determine local improvement priorities and measuring and reporting on what matters most to them.
Drawing on work in progress within member organisations and working in partnership with Tomorrow’s Company to access learning and best practice from the world of business and commerce, the FTN has produced a guide for foundation trusts on developing Quality Accounts - ‘Making the Most of Quality Accounts’
The publication aims to help members think through the processes required for good stakeholder engagement, embedding a responsive quality approach and producing meaningful Quality Accounts which address the interests of all stakeholders.
The FTN held a quality conference on 24 February 2010. Further details on the event are available on this site. The Foundation Trust Network launched a second publication on the practical elements of producing quality accounts, including engagement and assurance - members attending the 24 February 2010 event “foundations of quality” received a copy which is also downloadable via the link below.
FTN Quality Accounts Survey - Summary
The FTN conducted a short survey to assess members’ experience of producing Quality Accounts for 2009/2010. We asked for examples of how members had engaged with the local community to produce their Quality Accounts and how their Quality Accounts had contributed to their wider stakeholder engagement strategy. Here is a summary of some of the key findings.
We received 27 responses from FTN members.
Quality Reports
All foundation trust were required to produce Quality Reports last year and publish them as part of their Annual Report and Accounts 2008/09. Foundation trusts were required to identify their priorities for improvement and what indicators they would be using to measure their performance.
Quality Reports can be found in trust Annual Report and Accounts 2008/09 in the Foundation Trust Directory on the Monitor website.