Quality in the NHS Listening Event - 17 February 2010
A reminder for your diary for the Quality in the NHS Listening event on Wednesday, 17 February 2010 from 10.00am until 3.00pm.
Please note the event location is:
Park Plaza County Hall Hotel, 1 Addington Street SE1 7RY
If you would like to attend and have not yet replied to the invitation, please email confirmation to: natalie.blake@dh.gsi.gov.uk
Subject: Quality in the NHS – Listening Event
The NHS Next Stage Review and the final report, High Quality Care for All, placed great emphasis on the quality of the services which an NHS organisation commissions and delivers. It placed quality at the heart of all practice and brought to the forefront the scrutiny of that practice.
The Department of Health (DH) launched a public consultation on the proposed framework for Quality Accounts. Quality Accounts are annual reports to the public on the quality of the services which NHS organisations deliver. By producing a Quality Account, each NHS provider, led by their Board, is committing to improve the quality of services it delivers and inviting the public to hold them account.
I would like to invite you to a listening event on the equality aspects of quality to ensure that sufficient consideration is given to the needs of all groups of the population who either use the services of the NHS, are employed by the NHS or are affected by the services it commissions and provides.
The event will take place on Wednesday, 17 February 2010 from 10.00am to 3.00pm at Park Plaza County Hall Hotel, 1 Addington Street, London SE1 7RY.
The purpose of this event is for DH to listen to views, comments and opinions on Quality in the NHS. It will provide the opportunity for people to express their views about the potential impact on equality and human rights as the NHS focuses on delivery of Quality and improved productivity across the NHS.
Responses and feedback from this event will be used when producing guidance for the NHS on Quality and for setting future action plans when impact assessing the equality and human rights dimensions of policy planning for Quality.
Full details including a programme, location map and travel directions will be sent out on receipt of confirmation that you are attending. Travel expenses will be reimbursed in line with Government rates (on production of receipts), where this arrangement will impact on ability to participate, please contact us to discuss.
Please let me know by Friday, 8th January 2010 if you are able to attend. If you are not able to take up this invitation yourself, we would be grateful if you could nominate someone to attend in your absence.
Driving up the quality of services and commissioning in the NHS is national policy so we are inviting a range organisations, large and small, to take part in this discussion. Those invited will be drawn from organisations with an equality aspect to their advocacy role, training organisations, network representatives and individual representatives providing personal perspectives of those groups who do not routinely engage with health services.
We would also be interested to hear how we might widen input to this consultation to reach local and community groups. Please contact me if you wish to discuss.
I would be grateful if you could confirm your attendance by email to Natalie Blake – <mailto:Natalie.Blake@dh.gsi.gov.uk> Natalie.Blake@dh.gsi.gov.uk – telephone 020 7972 5008. Please also let Natalie know of any requirements you have to help your participation in the event.
I look forward to meeting you.
Yours Sincerely,
Trish Pashley
Equality and Inclusion Team
Direct line: 020 7972 5019
Email address: Trish.Pashley@dh.gsi.gov.uk
Skipton House
80 London Road
SE1 6HL
Direct Line: 020 7972 5008