‘And the prize for the most boring service goes to…’

The NHS Atlas of Variation in Healthcare highlights unwarranted variation in the quality of NHS care provided.

At a recent Network development session, facilitated by the Health Foundation, we pondered why the NHS struggles to provide uniform basic quality care for all. It was suggested that this could be, in part, due to the fact that getting basic quality care right, for all patients, wasn’t as exciting as concentrating on the latest innovations. We even went as far as to say that routine evidenced based care, whilst of paramount importance, wasn’t going to receive any sexy awards and actually we should be giving all the plaudits to the most boring services – namely those that deliver the fundamentals of what we know to be good quality care day after day, to all their patients.

Now I’m not sure anyone would want to put themselves forward for the most boring service accolade, not least because it conjures up thoughts of Gerald Ratner, who became famous for making a speech in which he denigrated his own company’s products. And so I expect we need to think of a better name for any prizes. But anyone who has read the Network’s recently published ‘Our Ambitions for Stroke Care – A Strategy for 2012-17’ will have seen our quote: “New knowledge is important but the reality on the ground is that patients are not getting the care we know we could provide.”

Our Ambitions Strategy also sets the Network’s aspiration to improve the diagnosis and management of atrial fibrillation (an abnormal heart rhythm) across the East Midland. This is because the evidence suggests we could save 4,500 strokes in England per annum and prevent 3,000 deaths through reducing unwarranted variation in diagnosis and management of care in this area.

The Network is currently concluding and evaluating a pilot project with Corby Clinical Commissioning Group, in Northamptonshire, on atrial fibrillation. The challenge will then be to spread the learning and best practice at scale, as needed across the region, ensuring quality care becomes the norm for this patient group. And while we’re at it, we’ll also be working on a way of celebrating success which enables boring to become the ultra new sexy!