Duty of Quality

The Duty of Quality came into effect from 1 April 2023 and it has two aims:

• To improve the quality of services
• To improve outcomes for people in Wales

It applies to everything we do in NHS Wales, whether we work in clinical or non-clinical roles.

We have a shared responsibility to achieve improved quality of services and outcomes for our population.

As a service user, you don’t need to do anything for the Duty of Quality.

Health and Care Quality Standards

The Duty introduces new Health and Care Quality Standards, which have been developed to help us embed the Duty of Quality in our work.

The standards are made up of six domains of quality and six quality enablers. They drive our approach to making decisions in our work.

We are developing our Quality Management Systems with Quality Planning, Quality Improvement, Quality Assurance, and Quality Control. All of these systems work together to create a learning environment.

Our reports

The Duty of Quality includes a requirement for us to publish information about the quality of the services we provide and commission on your behalf.

We always monitoring and report how we’re doing on our Quality journey. We report this information in a number of ways:

• We publish monthly Performance reports to reflect service user and patient feedback.
  More information is available on our Performance Reports webpage.
   
• We publish Annual Reports that outline our achievements, financial expenditure and plans.
  More information is available on our Annual Reports webpage.
   
• Our Trust Board meeting takes place in public and includes presentations about the quality of services we provide.
  More information is available in our Trust Board meetings and papers.
   
• We have a number of committees who meet regularly to advise and assure the Trust Board and Accountable Officers.
  More information is available on our Committee Structure webpage.
• We’re working as part of the all-Wales Nosocomial COVID-19 Programme.
  More information is available from our Nosocomial COVID-19 Programme webpage.

More information

More information about the Duty of Quality is available on the Welsh Government website. This includes information about the statutory guidance that NHS Wales organisations have to follow.