We work with NHS organisations, partners, patients, and carers to reduce harm, learn from when things go wrong, and improve services. By listening to patient voices and using evidence and data, we focus on learning and making care better for everyone.
Through collaborative learning, transparent reporting, and a focus on improvement rather than blame, we help our system understand what is working well, where risks are emerging, and what action is needed to keep people safe.
Commissioning for Quality
ICBs strategically commission high quality services that meet the needs of their local populations. They allocate resources effectively, assess and monitor quality in procurement and contracting, use contractual levers to support quality improvement, and proactively mitigate quality risks in accordance with the National Quality Board and related guidance.
Norfolk and Suffolk ICB champion quality as a central principle in how health and care services are designed and delivered.
Partners work together to deliver shared quality improvement priorities and have collective ownership and management of quality challenges.
Quality improvement priorities are based on a sound understanding of quality issues within the context of the local population’s needs, variation and inequalities.
Meaningful engagement ensures that people using services, the public and staff shape how services are designed, delivered and evaluated.
Partners work together in an open way with clear accountabilities for quality decisions, including ownership and management of risks, particularly what happens when serious quality issues arise.
Patient Safety Incident Response Framework
The majority of health services that have a contract with the NHS must follow the principles of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF). This can include some services provided by GP practices and other primary care teams, as well as care delivered by independent organisations that are funded by the NHS.
Each organisation’s PSIRF explains how they should respond when something goes wrong with patient care. Its aim is to improve safety by learning from incidents, rather than blaming people. Under PSIRF, staff look carefully at what happened, why it happened, and what can be done to stop it happening again. Patients, families, and staff should be involved where possible.
The focus of PSIRF is learning, improvement, and making care safer for everyone. You can read about our provider organisations’ response plans and their local priorities for investigation here:
- East Coast Community Healthcare CIC Patient Safety Plan
- East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust Patient Safety Plan
- East Suffolk and North Essex NHS Foundation Trust Patient Safety Plan
- James Paget University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Patient Safety Plan
- Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust Patient Safety Plan
- Norfolk and Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust Patient Safety Plan
- Norfolk Community Health and Care NHS Trust Patient Safety Plan
- The Queen Elizabeth Hospital King’s Lynn NHS Foundation Trust Patient Safety Plan
- West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust Patient Safety Plan
