Published on behalf of the National Quality Board, the strategy sets out a structured approach to making quality the organising principle of NHS-funded care in England over the next decade.

The strategy, which aligns with the 10 Year Health Plan and the Dash Review, sets out a shared approach to quality across three interdependent domains: safety, effectiveness and experience.

It focuses on three areas: improving health outcomes and healthy life expectancy; reducing healthcare inequalities; and improving satisfaction with NHS services.

The strategy aims to address the challenges of uneven outcomes and experiences, with healthy life expectancy at birth at its lowest level since 2011.

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Rachel Power, chief executive of The Patients Association, and Chris Graham, chief executive of Picker, called for patient power to be carried through into how the strategy is delivered.

‘Patients, service users, and carers must be able to help shape what good care looks like, not simply be asked to respond to decisions made elsewhere in the system,' they said.

Dr Rosie Benneyworth, interim chief executive HSSIB, expressed disappointment the strategy did not set out the need for an integrated management system, citing its acknowledgement that quality management and safety management require different but connected approaches, which should be brought together.

Dr Benneyworth said NHSE's intention to review the NHS Patient Safety Strategy should form part of an integrated quality and safety management system.