Quality, Innovation and Evidence in Sweden and England – Establishing a Collaborative Roadmap

Paper in proceeding, 2010

International healthcare regulators, providers and commissioners are facing severe funding constraints that are putting increased pressures on quality, innovation and performance. Within England, NHS resources have unsustainably grown, and all organisations are launching initiatives to increase quality, innovation, productivity and prevention while decreasing cost. Within the Swedish case the decentralised organisation of health and care into the countries county councils, face similar problems. Many are working together to combine new medical and logistical processes with patient centred approaches. This paper investigates the political and best practice differences between Sweden and England and investigates their similarities and differences according to a number of factors, including e.g. organisational roles, regulator standards, best practices and innovation in quality and organisational learning tools. This work is looking to establish a new international best practice framework that structures the relationship between evidence and design, in its broadest sense. It addresses the international role in improving design quality of mandatory standards and compliance criteria on the one hand and excellence and quality on the other.