Quality standard

This quality standard covers improving the quality of the patient experience for people who use adult NHS services. It describes high-quality care in priority areas for improvement.

It does not cover people using NHS services for mental health or the experiences of carers of people using NHS services. A separate quality standard on service user experience in adult mental health services has been developed for people using NHS mental health services.

In July 2019, this quality standard was updated to ensure that it remains current. For more information, see update information.

How to use NICE quality standards and how we develop them

Quality standards help you improve the quality of care you provide or commission. They apply in England and Wales (see the UK government website and Welsh government website). Decisions on how they apply in Scotland and Northern Ireland are made by ministers in the Scottish government and Northern Ireland Executive.

Find out how to use quality standards and how we develop them. We check our quality standards every August to make sure they are up to date.