NHS Improvement

NHS Improvement is responsible for overseeing foundation trusts and NHS trusts, as well as independent providers that provide NHS-funded care. It supports providers to give patients consistently safe, high quality, compassionate care within local health systems that are financially sustainable. A previous body - also called NHS Improvement - was set up in April 2008 to drive clinical service improvement,^[1] but was merged into NHS Improving Quality in 2013 ^[2] following the Health and Social Care Act reforms.

From 1 April 2016, NHS Improvement is the operational name for an organisation that brings together: Monitor, NHS Trust Development Authority, Patient Safety (from NHS England), National Reporting and Learning System, Advancing Change Team and Intensive Support Teams.

Current board members^[3]

• Ed Smith, Chair, previously director of both Monitor and the NHS Trust Development Authority.
• Jim Mackey, Chief Executive

Non executive directors

• Professor Lord Darzi of Denham
• Lord Carter of Coles
• Professor Dame Glynis Breakwell
• Sigurd Reinton CBE
• Caroline Thomson
• Sarah Harkness
• Laura Carstensen
• Richard Douglas CB

Learning from Mistakes League

One of its first actions was to publish a league table of the 230 NHS trusts according to their openness and transparency. The 'Learning from Mistakes League' table classifies trusts into four categories:

• 1 Outstanding levels of openness and transparency - 18;
• 2 Good levels of openness and transparency - 102;
• 3 Significant concerns about openness and transparency - 78;
• 4 Poor reporting culture -32.

Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, which was formerly led by the Chief Executive, Jim Mackey, was placed first. East Sussex Healthcare NHS Trust was at the bottom.^[4] Claire Murdoch, chief executive of Central and North West London NHS Foundation Trust, placed 125th, complained that the league had a “significant methodological flaw in terms of fairness” because it implied that there were significant differences between ranks 120 and 121, and because, she complained, the assessments were not carried out consistently and the large amount of information trusts reported monthly to the Care Quality Commission were not taken into account.^[5]

References