title: Quality improvement- where do we stand?
abstract: Improvements in quality are commonly used to measure outcome in modern medicine. The drive to improve services nationally and to reduce the financial burden, which is at the forefront of NHS policy, attracts political debate and is constantly the focus of media attention. However, before this can be done in surgery, we need to learn from ongoing work and recognised systems for quality review and implementation, and develop national processes for sustained improvement. As a specialty, Oral and maxillofacial surgery is a good example.
authors.affiliation: Department of Gastroenterology, Torbay Hospital, Torquay, UK. Electronic address: ben.green4@nhs.net.
authors.forename: Ben
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Green
authors.affiliation: Department of Intensive Care Medicine, Derriford Hospital, Plymouth, UK. Electronic address: ben.janaway@nhs.net.
authors.forename: Ben M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Janaway
authors.affiliation: Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery, Queen Alexandra Hospital, Portsmouth, UK. Electronic address: peter.brennan@porthosp.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Peter A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Brennan
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D019647:Oral Surgical Procedures; D058996:Quality Improvement
keywords: Oral and maxillofacial surgery; Quality improvement