Academy welcomes NHS Mandate

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges welcomes publication of the first Mandate to the NHS Commissioning Board and supports the focus on the NHS Outcomes Framework. The Academy is pleased to note the Mandate is now more concise and focussed than it was previously.

Professor Terence Stephenson, Chairman of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said:

"A mandate from the Government to hold the NHS to account against high-level outcomes will keep the spotlight on the importance of a patient-centred culture whilst allowing flexibility and innovation in how to achieve it

Seeking across the board improvement is ambitious. However it does avoid previous problems of distorting clinical activity and behaviour in unhelpful ways by setting specific targets in selected areas.

We are pleased to see that issues raised by Colleges during the consultation on education and training, seven day working and rare conditions have been included in the document.

It is good to see the recognition of the role that Royal Colleges play in achieving improvement in outcomes and the Academy, Colleges and clinicians look forward to working with the Government and Commissioning Board to improve patient safety, experience and outcomes"

For more details go to the mandate website: www.dh.gov.uk/mandate