Quality strategy for NHS-funded care in England (14 July 2026)

Summary

This strategy, published on behalf of the National Quality Board, provides a new structured approach to making quality the organising principle for all NHS activity in England over the next decade. Its purpose is to ensure people receive high‑quality care consistently across all NHS-funded services. By doing so, it aims to:

• improve health outcomes
• improve patient satisfaction with NHS services
• reduce health inequalities.

It applies system-wide, guiding national bodies, NHS leaders, the wider healthcare workforce and partners whose actions influence the quality of care in local communities.

Content

The Strategy uses a definition of high-quality care based on the three core domains of quality: 

1. Safety: reducing the risk of unintended or unexpected harm to patients arising from the provision of healthcare.
2. Effectiveness : delivering evidence-based care that optimises the outcomes that matter to people using services.
3. Experience: co-ordinated, compassionate and responsive care, delivered by staff who are skilled, supported and able to do their job well.

It focuses on improving performance across all three of these domains.

Key priorities identified by the strategy

The Strategy sets initial focus on where clear standards and the application of proven approaches will deliver the greatest improvements in outcomes, equity and value, based on current evidence. It notes that these priorities are not static, stating that as progress is made and as risks, outcomes and population needs change, priorities will be reviewed and updated.

1. Improving outcomes and reducing variation.
2. Making sustained improvements in maternity and neonatal services.
3. Maintaining patient safety across all settings.
4. Improving experience of care and restoring trust.
5. Reducing inequalities across all three quality domains.
6. Monitoring clinical and population health outcomes,

Drawing on the 10‑Year Health Plan and the Dash Review, this strategy sets out ten enablers that support quality improvement across the whole healthcare system:

• Clarifying who is responsible and accountable for quality at every level of the healthcare system.
• Setting clear priorities to improve the quality of care while adopting a transparent, co-ordinated and value-based approach.
• Strengthening leadership and management capability to create the right culture and conditions for improvement.
• Listening to and working with people and communities on what matters to them.
• Using data to manage quality, inform decisions and support accountability at all levels.
• Increasing transparency, making the NHS the world’s leading healthcare system for public access to information on care quality.
• Developing and embedding technology to underpin quality management and improvement.
• Aligning incentives and rewards with accessible, high-quality and productive care.
• Promoting innovation and research to support continuous improvement in both clinical care and how the NHS operates.
• Creating a more co-ordinated and improvement-focused approach to regulation.