Policy making

Much progress is still needed in the area of quality and outcome. Mortality and morbidity measures are helpful but shorter term measures of good outcome are usually more practical. Internet data availability means patients increasingly value the availability of quality and outcome data.

HAI examines the needs of individual care groups. We look at strategy, quality, outcomes and, of course, cost. We use short practical overviews of local health delivery. We work in close consultation with local staff. We make extensive use of comparative data to put local hospital performance into perspective. These include:

National statistics
Demographic and social trends
Population variations in health provision
Staff resource availability
Clinical governance at hospital level
Hospital admission and discharge policies
Links with local communities
Demand containment

HAI reviews underpin local decision making. We work to achieve amicable clinician agreement.

Hospitals take up the largest share of government health spend in all EEC countries. Criticisms of performance variation, cost and quality are always present. Governments, of course, want containment of demand.

In the UK the National Health Service (NHS) has introduced a far reaching system of payment by results. Costs are attached to each procedure and hospitals paid accordingly. Much progress is still needed in the area of quality and outcome.