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In its response, Northgate argues that if the emphasis is going to increasingly move away from quantity to the high quality of care, it is essential that clinicians and NHS staff are involved and engaged, and that services are built around individual need, rather than organisational functionality.

All NHS organisations have been set a challenging task to produce quality accounts by April 2010 using a combination of national and local quality measurement systems.

According to Northgate, quality measures will need to draw on the disparate information sources that already exist to provide objective data about clinical care, combined with the development of people-related outcome measurements at a national and local level.

Northgate believes that for success to be sustained it is essential that clinicians and health employees witness rapid and effective implementation of their ideas and responsive and relevant measurements of quality.

Through the introduction of a right for external organisations to bring ideas to the table, complemented by the development of in-house solutions which draw upon external support in the form of partnerships or joint ventures, Northgate argues that these will help to create capacity and capability within the NHS and create the basis for sustainable and continuous improvement in measuring quality.

Ian Blackhurst, Managing Director of Northgate Health, said today: “I believe that the NHS is a great institution that can only get better through focusing on quality outcomes. Measuring quality is a major challenge for the service at both a local and national level. We believe that our proposals may go some way in helping to ensure that good ideas benefit from great implementation.”

For more information:

Fellows’ Associates:

Kathy Sutton 020 7849 3403; 07966 890401; ksutton@fellowsassociates.com

Note to editors:

1. Northgate Information Solutions is a leading provider of innovative services to the public sector and utilities markets. Northgate’s task is to enhance public value through the intelligent use of people and technology, and to share in the economic and social benefits that this brings.

2. Northgate works with organisations across the country to improve health outcomes. We support commissioners in effective decision-making; enable doctors to monitor and improve their performance; and provide patients with the information they need to exercise meaningful choice. Whether supporting world-leading screening programmes, managing national health registries or delivering state-of-the-art information systems for NHS Trusts, Northgate puts the patient at the heart of health services.

For the full response, please visit:
http://www.northgate-ispublicservices.com/page/view/our_consultation_responses