Shared Purpose

In brief

Shared Purpose is the third round of our Closing the Gap improvement programme, which aims to identify improvements, build knowledge and skills, and create new approaches to help transform the quality of healthcare in the UK.

To date, the quality agenda has focused largely on improving the reliability of clinical services. But clinical teams do not work in isolation. Corporate support services also have a significant role to play in improving the quality of care experienced by patients.

Especially with the financial challenges facing UK health services, it is vital to deliver improvement not just at the level of individual clinical services, but across organisations and health economies. Often when we approach change at this level, it becomes more obvious that we need to change the corporate support systems as well as clinical processes.

To address this need, the Health Foundation is supporting nine award-holder teams to develop and implement ways for corporate support services and clinical teams to work together to improve quality of care.

Shared Purpose aims to:

• raise awareness of the role corporate support services can play in improving quality of care
• create examples of best practice in corporate support services and clinical services working together to improve quality of care
• develop the evidence base of what works in improving care through aligning corporate support and clinical services around common quality goals.

Our support is designed to help the teams turn their ideas into successful examples of best practice. It aims to build the evidence base for what works in aligning corporate support and clinical services around common quality goals.

The Shared Purpose teams are developing a diverse mix of innovations within health services, including value-based interviewing, telemedicine, a workforce intelligence scheme, and the UK’s first Microsystem Coaching Academy.