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A joint letter by Chief Executive-designate of NHS Improvement, Jim Mackey, and the Care Quality Commission’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards.

Chief Executive-designate of NHS Improvement, Jim Mackey, and the Care Quality Commission’s (CQC) Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards have written to all 255 NHS hospital trusts in England to ask them to consider quality and finances on equal footing in their planning decisions.

NHS providers have been under great pressure over recent years to make quality improvements within the resources available. Together with CQC, we recognise that there has been a perception that NHS trusts could only achieve their financial targets at the expense of quality, or that improving quality was more important than staying in financial surplus.

A joint letter asks that financial performance and quality must work together, and be considered as combined and equal priorities. It recognises the role that NHS Improvement and the CQC have in supporting trusts to deliver the right balance between quality and finances.

A letter from Chief Executive-designate of NHS Improvement, Jim Mackey, and the CQC's Chief Inspector of Hospitals, Professor Sir Mike Richards (PDF, 139KB, 2 pages)