Last week I posted twice about the importance of working towards health ‘outcomes’ in the NHS. The first discussed the difference between inputs, outputs and outcomes; the second drew on the excellent work of the Richmond group of patient organisations in using outcome measurement in creating much more patient-centred healthcare.

The aim of the second post was to ground the first in the ‘real world’ of today’s NHS drivers. Of course If the NHS is going to work towards health care outcomes it  will need a great deal of change in the way in which staff and patients work together. The good news is that there are many patient organisations that really want to make this happen.