Our origins
Healthcare Improvement Scotland
Our key purpose is
to improve the quality and safety of healthcare for
the people of Scotland.
We will build on the good work done by
our predecessors and will include all component parts of NHS
Quality Improvement Scotland (including the Healthcare Environment
Inspectorate, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network and the
Scottish Health Council).
We also take over responsibility for
the regulation of independent healthcare from the
Care Commission.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland’s work
programme will support Scottish Government priorities, in
particular those arising from the Quality Strategy.
Why change?
The Crerar Review concluded that the scrutiny landscape in
Scotland is unnecessarily complex and too difficult for the public
and service providers to understand. Scrutiny straddles both
inspection and improvement as a way of improving the quality of
services. Government, service providers and the public all want a
more simplified approach and this change is part of wider reform
which includes the creation of Social Care and Social Work
Improvement Scotland (SCSWIS) a body for social work and social
care services, which will take on work currently done by Her
Majesty’s Inspectorate of Education (HMIE), Social Work Inspection
Agency, (SWIA) and the Care Commission.
