Our partners and stakeholders

HQIP works collaboratively across the health and care sector to champion national and local clinical audit as a way of achieving improvement in care and patient outcomes. Audit programmes are a key tool for the measurement and monitoring of care and provide a crucial evidence-base on which to build and develop better patient care and healthcare services. HQIP aims to work in a positive, open and transparent way to help enable positive and fruitful working partnerships to build better patient care. Some of the organisations we work regularly with to enable the measurement and monitoring of care through audit in the NHS are:

Our funders and other national bodies

• HQIP works closely with funders of our work delivering our portfolio of national clinical audits and other programmes. These include NHS England, Welsh Government as well as, for certain projects, the Health Department of the Scottish Government, DHSSPS Northern Ireland and the Channel Islands
• HQIP aim to align closely with other national bodies and their quality improvement programmes to improve care as well as to maximise opportunities to align data collection and use.

Quality improvement and clinical audit networks and groups

HQIP works with and supports national quality improvement and clinical audit networks to foster a better understanding on best audit and improvement practice. This happens:

• Nationally through our support for the National Quality Improvement and Clinical Audit Network (NQICAN) – known as the ‘network of networks,’ the group has representation from all regional networks, some national/specialist networks and royal colleges.
• Locally, through regional and specialist clinical audit and interest networks. Where possible, HQIP supports some of these local networks and more can be found on the audit networks homepage
• Via our website where we have a number of key resources to support local clinical audit staff

Health and care sector organisations, groups and individuals

HQIP works with, and is keen to establish links with all major health organisations using audit and related quality improvement to evidence and set the agenda for better patient care. Measuring and monitoring care is part of a reflective, open and transparent health culture that can benefit everyone working to commission, deliver, assure and regulate care. Our peers and partners include:

• Patient organisations and representative bodies
• Royal colleges of medicine, general practice, and nursing
• Professional and membership bodies as well as specialty associations
• Regulatory bodies including the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the General Medical Council (GMC)
• National Institute for Health and Care Excellence
• Social Care Institute for Excellence
• The Clinical Service Accreditation Alliance
• Charities and the voluntary sector, who have a growing role in health policy and design

Service User Network (SUN)

HQIP’s SUN was established in 2009 and now comprises 40 patient and public representatives. Representatives work alongside HQIP teams in helping to:

• Develop public and patient involvement and our quality improvement work
• Serve as an expert consultation group

The involvement of SUN and other patients and service users in our work is crucial as acting on the patient voice is critical to the development of high-quality audit that measures care on issues that are important to patients. Using audit data for quality improvement will bring about better patient outcomes and patient experience.