We help NHSScotland improve the quality of patient care. Our work supports the Quality Strategy and covers all 3 elements of the cycle of improvement.
Internationally recognised excellence
We are an organisation that delivers internationally recognised excellence. We work to improve the quality of care received by every patient in Scotland every time they access healthcare.
Integrating quality improvement in healthcare
We have a lead role in supporting NHS boards and their staff in achieving their goals by:
• providing advice and guidance on effective clinical practice, including setting standards
• driving and supporting implementation and improvements in quality, and
• assessing the performance of the NHS, reporting and publishing our findings.
- providing guidance on effective clinical practice, including setting standards
- driving and supporting implementation and improvement
- assessing the performance of the NHS and reporting our findings.

We also support the delivery of patient safety and clinical governance across Scotland and patient and public involvement is at the heart of what we do.
We take a lead role in co-ordinating the work of the
Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) and provide support to the
Scottish Medicines Consortium.
Who we are
We are a Special Health Board. We advise, support and assess NHS boards to help improve the quality of healthcare for the people of Scotland.
The
Scottish Health Council, the
Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network (SIGN)and the Healthcare Environment Inspectorate are key components of our organisation.

