NMAHP Quality Councils

To help communication, professional networking and active participation of NMAHPs and the wider community to influence the NMAHP contribution to quality.

Anyone with an NHS Athens username can join.  Select the Join community option at the top of the page. If you do not have an NHS Athens Username,follow the link to Register and once you have received your username you will be able to join the community.  You can still view these pages if you are not a member but you will not be able to contribute to the discussions or blogs.

You can influence the NMAHP contribute to quality by sharing your views and adding to discussion topics.  You can access tools and techniques to strengthen professional practice.  You can share experiences of what has worked in your area and resources you have found useful. You can find out about the work of the NMAHP Quality Councils by receiving alerts when new content is added. 

You can access the user guide here.

There are three NMAHP Quality Councils and one Co-ordinating Council. Each NMAHP Quality Council focuses on one of the Quality Ambitions: safe; effective; or person centred healthcare services. The overarching Co-ordinating Council will ensure the work of the three NMAHP Quality Councils is harmonised and aligned with the Quality Ambitions. This Council will also co-ordinate the work of a number of Support Worksteams.

The NMAHP Quality Councils will ensure existing and emerging NMAHP initiatives are aligned with the Quality Ambitions. They will inform and actively involve the NMAHP community and other stakeholders in their activities.

While is it not feasible for everyone to attend Council meetings, it is possible for anyone to contribute to the work of the Councils. The Councils will use shared governance principles.  The aim is to provide NHS staff with the opprtunity to lead and participate in decision making processess around the Quality Strategy.  It empowers staff to reflect their professional values in order to promote positive behaviours and practices. To support this, virtual and e-enabled approaches will be used for most communication and enagement activities.

Members of the NMAHP community were invited to submit a brief summary of their knowledge, skills and experience to the Chief Nursing Officer Directorate. Three people were selected and asked to chair one of the three NMAHP Quality Councils.   Allied Health Professional Directors Scotland Group was asked to nominated for the position of Vice Chair for each NMAHP Quality Council from suitably experienced AHP leaders.  Each NMAHP Quality Council includes a representative from each NHS Board. Other stakeholders have been invited to contribute their expertise. All Council members will actively seek ideas and views from the wider NMAHP community.

The NMAHP Quality Councils mirror the structure of the Quality Alliance Board and Delivery Groups, with the exception of the Infrastructure Delivery Group.  The NMAHP Co-ordinating Council instead has a number of Support Workstreams that will support issues that impact on all the NMAHP Quality Councils. There is some common membership bewteen the Quality Alliance Board,the Delivery Groups and the NMAHP Quality Councils. Ros Moore, Chief Nursing Officer, is the Chair of the Co-ordinating Council and is also a member of the Quality Alliance Board. The Chair’s of the three Quality Councils are members of the relevant Quality Alliance Board Delivery Groups, and the Co-ordinating Council. The NMAHP Quality Councils will focus on implementation of initiatives where significant NMAHP leadership and input is required. These close working relationships will prevent duplication of activity and ensure alignment and wide involvement with relevant initiatives.

The NMAHP Quality Councils are the vehicles that will drive and co-ordinate the NMAHP contribution to quality nationally, whereas care governance is a vehicle for NHS Boards to provide assurance of the NMAHP contribution to quality, alongside other forms of governance. The Quality Councils will facilitate the introduction of care governance.

Shared governance, sometimes known as shared leadership, is a principle that provides clinicians with opportunities to participate in decision making processes that impact on their practice and their ultimate goal to deliver high quality healthcare. It empowers them to reflect their professional values in order to promote positive behaviours and practices, for example, promoting care that reflects the needs of the individual.

The usual approach to this sort of work is to set up programme boards made up of key stakeholders responsible for setting and overseeing a programme of work delivered by a series of sub groups.  This can lead to a lack of ownership by those affected or problems of alignment with local work.  We also know that education, professional standards, and judgment are not the only determinants of professional practice. Nurses, midwives and allied health professionals have not always been empowered to fully exercise their clinical judgment for patient care, which according to evidence is a factor in job satisfaction and ultimately quality of care. As employees, they must structure their practice within resources and rules, set by their employers, often in the form of policies and procedures, which can have a profound effect on how they deliver healthcare. Using shared governance as an approach to the work of the Quality Councils will enable clinicians to influence and shape their contribution to quality according to their professional values.

The shared governance approach being used to underpin the NMAHP Contribution to Quality is one in which a coordinating council will integrate decisions made by the three NMAHP Quality Councils (one each for safe, effective and person centred care), a number of  Support Workstreams. However, shared governance is more than a set of committees or councils.  The numbers, titles and arrangements of the councils are not as important as the people who contribute to their work. A major role of these councils will be to actively engage with the NMAHP community, both directly and through representatives from NHS Boards, to gather their expertise and knowledge to create policy, guidance and shape professional behaviours in order to enhance the NMAHP contribution to the quality of direct clinical care.

This community space will be used to get messages to and from the NMAHP Quality Councils to influence and shape their work. It will enable many to many communication, provide a convenient way of interacting and collaborating 24/7 from any location where there is a computer and internet access. It will provide easy access to information, some of which will be audio pod casts and videos. You can also find out who the Council Member for your NHS Board area is so you can contact them and share your ideas.

Care goverance relates to the governance of direct care delivery at a clinical operational level and is demonstrated through measures relating to the assurance of care quality, caring behaviours and associated outcomes.

The introduction of care governance is intended to address gaps in current forms of governance, particularly around person centred healthcare and service, and strengthening the connection between ‘point of care delivery’ and the requirement to report on quality to the Board. This is intended to address concerns that members of the public have sometimes expressed about the human dynamics of care and the fundementals of care.

Many forms of Governance that impact on healthcare exist in the NHS. Most are systems of assurance, which through measurement, provide the public, professionals, managers and the government with assurance that their health services are achieving their intended goals. Care Governance seeks to strengthen the connection between all these forms of governance and address gaps.

Shared governance principles and approach will be used to support the development and implementation of care governance. Clinicians will be encouraged to influence decisions related to person centred aspects of care, healthcare services, the environment in which that takes place, and their professional development.

This web resource will be kept up to date with Councils papers, news and discussions. If you can't find the information you want please contact us and we will answer your questions.