Planning for quality improvement
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CloseThings to think about when planning your quality improvement work.
Reaching a shared understanding about quality
Before you can engage in assessing and improving quality, it is helpful to reach a shared understanding. It is important to be clear about:
- the aims and objectives of adopting quality standards
- how quality sits alongside other management tools and systems
- the resources available.
What does planning for quality entail?
A number of other things need to be thought through, such as:
- do the relevant people understand what they will be committing to?
- what training will staff and trustees need?
- have resources been set aside for the work involved?
- does the organisation need any support, for example from an external consultant?
- what information is needed about different approaches?
Getting the resources needed to ensure quality
This early stage is also the time to consider the resources that may be needed:
- purchase costs for the standards, guidance material and external recognition
- costs from training or external consultancy support
- time investment in self-assessment, external assessment and in quality improvements.
Talk to your funders about including an appropriate proportion of your costs in your funding bids for particular projects or services – they may be willing to support you, especially if they expect you to have a system in place. You may also find that funding is available to support quality initiatives in your area or field of work.
Developing a quality plan
Once an approach to quality has been agreed, decisions are then required on how to introduce it to the organisation. An overall plan or framework will consider:
- who will take a lead and manage the activities?
- who will be involved and how will they contribute?
- how will the information gathered through assessment be fed back into decision-making and work processes?
- how will quality planning be linked to other organisational planning?
- how will improvements be demonstrated and shared with others?
Have your say
How do you go about planning for quality?
Share your experience on the Improving performance forum.
