This report examines the return on the investment in quality of health care made in the NHS by the government since they came to power in 1997. Leatherman and Sutherland review the vision, strategy and structural changes that underpin the quality agenda before analysing key components of the strategy and making recommendations.
This study presents a follow-on to a report published in 1998 at the outset of the Labour Government’s reform (Evolving Quality in the New NHS: Policy, process and pragmatic considerations, which is also available from The Nuffield Trust). Quest for Quality in the NHS offers current analysis of progress made with improving the quality of health care in the NHS and in chapter nine, contains the most up to date analysis of the performance of the English NHS since the abolition of the internal market in 1997.