QQUIP provides information on quality, performance and value for money in the NHS in England.
QQUIP – Quest for Quality and Improved Performance – is a five-year, £2.5 million research initiative of The Health Foundation. It has been set up to help answer three fundamental questions about healthcare in England:
- What is the current state of quality and performance?
- What works to improve quality and performance?
- Are we getting value for money from what is spent on the NHS?
The initiative responds to one of the main recommendations made in Sheila Leatherman and Kim Sutherland’s influential report, The Quest for Quality in the NHS: A Mid-term Evaluation of the Ten Year Quality Agenda. This is to develop a centre that can provide regular, independent reports on NHS performance in relation to effectiveness, safety, capacity, equity, patient centeredness and access.
What are we doing?
The QQUIP research team is collecting, collating, analysing and reporting on data drawn from a wide range of sources. It is also providing coherent and accessible information on where healthcare resources are currently being spent, whether they provide value for money and how interventions in the UK and around the world have been used to improve healthcare quality.
QQUIP is intended to provide a valuable resource for clinicians, managers, researchers and healthcare policy makers. This comprehensive and independent source of data will enable them to make informed decisions and take actions that will lead to better quality of patient care.
Data sources
QQUIP collects and analyses data from a wide range of already published and publicly available sources including databases such as the OECD Health Data, the Department of Health, the Healthcare Commission, professional databases and peer-reviewed published studies. It houses easy to use, at a glance data on priority areas such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes and mental health.
QQUIP reports
The QQUIP project produces in-depth analyses on themes such as patient involvement, regulation, incentives and IT. Each report will look at the extent to which these factors improve the quality of care provided. QQUIP reports will also estimate the costs and benefits of treating different diseases so that healthcare decision makers can make comparisons and informed decisions about resource allocation.
For more information, see our Research reports.
