Royal College of Physicians welcomes Darzi's focus on clinical quality

The Royal College of Physicians welcomes the focus on clinical quality in Lord Ara Darzi's Next Steps Review, but stresses the importance of clinical leadership in delivering the long term vision for the NHS.

Professor Ian Gilmore, President of the Royal College of Physicians, said: "Our initial impressions are positive. We were pleased to contribute to the review and are happy that Lord Darzi is proposing a greater emphasis on quality in measuring NHS performance. Doctors have contributed to the review - now we need to make sure they are fully involved in implementing the plans locally and nationally."

Immediately following the publication of the Next Steps Review, the Royal College of Physicians highlighted three particular aspects of Lord Darzi's report:

Quality care for all
We agree that change, and health services in general, should be driven by good evidence about the best clinical practice and the results this achieves for patients. Therefore, we welcome Lord Darzi's proposal to move to a health system fundamentally based on quality and outcomes.
Our recent report on Acute Care recommended the development of national clinical performance indicators to benchmark and improve performance.

Establishment of Medical Education for England The Royal College welcomes the establishment of Medical Education for England as an independent advisory body. We are particularly pleased it will be chaired by an independent doctor. The MEE should also help to ensure the implementation of the recommendations made by the Tooke inquiry in its inquiry into MMC and MTAS.
There are many challenges facing the health workforce, not least that of dealing with the forthcoming reductions in the working hours of junior doctors. It is good that Lord Darzi has highlighted the need to strengthen workforce planning and make sure we train the right numbers of people with the right skills to deliver first class health care.

Leadership
The Royal College of Physicians supports the idea of more doctors being fully involved in managing the health service. We have a range of medical leadership programmes and recently, in collaboration with Birkbeck College, we have introduced an MSc in Medical Leadership, aimed specifically at those doctors aspiring to the highest levels of health management.
We also believe that clinical leadership is required for the successful commissioning of health services that lies at the heart of Lord Darzi's vision.


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