Maintaining quality focuses on what you need to do.
What is it
Maintaining quality is about ensuring ongoing performance and sustaining improvements over time. It involves regularly checking how well services and processes function and making adjustments when needed.
Why is it important
It ensures that high standards of care are consistently delivered over time. It ensures those using services receive safe, effective and timely care. It also allows those delivering services to recognise when care meets these high standards, and when quality dips. If quality dips, those delivering services can act quickly to make improvements.
What are the key activities
To maintain quality effectively, organisations must develop and establish quality monitoring systems that:
- monitor the quality and performance of services and processes regularly
- provide timely and usable data to assess performance
- compare performance against agreed goals and act on any gaps
- measure and analyse relevant data in real-time to detect deviations from standards
- embed quality monitoring into daily work routines (this needs constant attention)
Practical considerations for maintaining quality
- people delivering services should help create standardised processes to reduce variation and improve reliability
- there must be a commitment to act quickly when changes are needed, with clear escalation pathways
- use effective visual management tools to identify issues early and guide timely action
Maintaining quality during change
During change initiatives, maintaining quality plays a vital role in tracking the impact of changes. This involves:
- collecting both existing and new data related to the change
- using qualitative and quantitative data, including balancing measures to avoid unintended consequences
- establishing systems and processes to sustain high-quality performance over time
- supporting the change actively to prevent regression to previous practices
Practical support
Find tools and resources to support maintaining quality.