NHS England has published a quality strategy to outline a structured approach to “making quality the organising principle for all NHS activity in England over the next decade”, including the use of data to measure and manage quality, the promotion of innovation and research, and tech to underpin safer, more consistent care.
Despite the NHS collecting large amounts of data and reporting on thousands of national quality metrics, coverage remains incomplete, NHSE claims, with variations in data availability and quality making it difficult to get a “clear picture” that could support improvement. The National Quality Board is to oversee the development of a standardised, aligned national approach to quality data and reporting, and introduce initial quality metrics to review progress covering outcomes. Focus is also on the drivers or the clinical and system levers that influence outcomes, and process metrics, or “fast-moving operational signals that show whether care processes are functioning effectively”.
Over 2026/27, NHSE says that the National Quality Board is set to work with all member organisations to develop these metrics, with plans to integrate a “comprehensive suite” of them to cover population health, health protection, and treatment outcomes. This will enable the provision of a list of approved metrics and standards to support the NHS Oversight Framework, ensuring alignment and consistency in data use for regulatory assessment and inspection, and setting the foundations for innovation and tech such as AI and predictive analytics.
During the same time period, NHSE commits to produce accessible quality insights for national, regional, and local levels; improve data sharing and access; and develop predictive insight and early warning capabilities. The Federated Data Platform will play a role in collecting and linking data from multiple sources to help improve benchmarking and data sharing, it adds.
On digital, NHSE emphasises that greater use of technology including AI “must be central” to efforts to deliver high quality care. “Technology offers the greatest improvements in safety, effectiveness and experience when it is designed around how clinicians work and how people use services, and embedded in practice,” it states. “It must also be used to reduce – rather than exacerbate – healthcare inequalities.”
Providers should continue to adopt all NHS App features as quickly as possible, NHSE continues, and focus on increasing digital maturity and capability across their organisations. This is alongside taking on an organisational approach to digital transformation that places a greater emphasis on process re-engineering, early involvement of digital clinical safety expertise, and ongoing optimisation, assurance, and monitoring.
NHSE identifies three priority areas: using tech and AI to identify emerging risks earlier, improving outcomes and productivity, and offering greater control for service users. AI models are being developed to analyse data from Learn from Patient Safety Events, supporting a more responsive early warning capability across the NHS, it shares. AI will increasingly be used in analysing unstructured data to support system-wide learning, with an AI tool predicting risks like falls and viruses being rolled out to more than two-thirds of ICBs. AI tools will be used to assess and triage patients more quickly, AI is being used in multiple services to telephone patients and provide information, and a new national cloud platform is being built to enable the scaling of new AI screening tools such as in mammograms for breast cancer.
Access to “cutting-edge” technology and personal health data will be provided through the NHS App, NHSE highlights, with tools like the AI Health Coach helping to promote healthier habits. Biometric data from smart devices will be integrated to support the shift to personalised and proactive care, enabling tailored health advice and earlier intervention. By the end of 2026/27, GPs will be able to refer patients to NHS Online, with patients able to manage these appointments from the NHS App.
By Summer 2027, a range of nationally approved apps will be made available via the HealthStore marketplace, so clinicians can recommend digital tools to support patients in managing their own health; and patients will have the ability to access at-home diagnostic tests using the app, starting with HIV testing.
NHSE also notes a number of opportunities spanning all quality domains, including the Federated Data Platform, the single patient record, and ambient voice technology, which it recommends providers should consider deploying “at pace”.
Wider trend: The NHS of the future
HTN was joined by a panel of digital leaders to discuss the NHS 10 Year Health Plan, looking at building the right digital foundations to deliver on ambitions, local approaches to national objectives, system transformation, challenges, progress and the road ahead. Our panel included Ravinder Kaur Sahota, group CIO at The Dudley Group and Sandwell and West Birmingham; Kelvyn Hipperson, executive CIO, Royal Cornwall Hospitals and Cornwall Partnership; and Graham Brown, Marketing Director at Redcentric.
For a recent HTN Now session exploring what good looks like for a digital patient journey, HTN was joined by a panel of experts from across the health sector. Panellists included Shanker Vijayadeva, GP lead – digital transformation in primary care, London Region, NHS England; Amanda Jackson, associate CCIO and digital inclusion lead, Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust; Tom Stocker, CHCIO and EPR adviser; Simon McNair, head of digital business development, Restore Information Management; and Tom Baldock, MD at Synertec, part of Restore Information Management.
NHS England has published a best practice guide for NHS frailty pathways, intended to inform ICBs and providers on the actions that should be taken to commission and drive improvements in performance, ahead of the publication of the modern service framework for frailty and dementia later in 2026. Key enablers include strong organisational and place-based leadership, education and training, strong collaboration with the VCSFE sector, and clinical safety including risk management for virtual wards, and governance for interoperability of shared care records and EPR.
