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Quality assurance in mental health: The QUARTZ system
Author(s) -
Lavender A.,
Leiper R.,
Pilling S.,
Clifford P.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
british journal of clinical psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.479
H-Index - 92
eISSN - 2044-8260
pISSN - 0144-6657
DOI - 10.1111/j.2044-8260.1994.tb01143.x
Subject(s) - quality assurance , mental health , quality (philosophy) , mental health service , service (business) , process management , psychology , risk analysis (engineering) , engineering management , business , engineering , psychiatry , marketing , philosophy , epistemology
This paper is concerned with how quality might be assured in mental health services. It includes an account of why a concern with quality and quality assurance procedures are now high on the agenda of the Health Service. A quality assurance programme requires a decision about what elements of a service to monitor, what information is relevant, how it can be collected, and a system for acting on the results. This paper provides a brief review of the kind of information that has been considered relevant and the methods that have been used to collect it. In addition, the principles underlying good and comprehensive quality assurance programmes will be outlined and the development of a particular system, known as QUARTZ, which has attempted to incorporate these principles, described briefly.