An introduction to quality, the DCHS way

Across the Trust we are passionate about growing our quality assurance processes and ensuring they are firmly rooted in our eight Quality Improvement (QI) principles.

Quality assurance gives us a view across the Trust on how well we are delivering continuous quality care to our service users.


We have created an electronic book giving you an overview of our DCHS assurance approach.

Click here to view the book.

See below the resources to support you with We Care visits:

The We Care visit template is to be completed on the Audit Management and Tracking (AMaT) system.

Click here to log into AMaT.

Read more about Quality Always and Quality and Safecare Champions here.

The Care Quality Commission is an executive non-departmental public body of the Department of Health and Social Care of the United Kingdom.

The CQC's stated role is to make sure that hospitals, care homes, dental and general practices and other care services in England provide people with safe, effective and high-quality care, and to encourage them to improve.

In May 2019, the CQC conducted DCHS’s first Well-led inspection that included our Community Sexual Health Services and reported on their findings in September 2019. 

In March 2022, the CQC carried out a focused inspection on our wards for people with a learning disability or autism.

DCHS is extremely proud that our overall rating and our Well-led inspection ratings are both outstanding.

More about the single assessment framework and the quality statements

‘The purpose of this framework is to provide a broad overview of the architecture by which Derbyshire Community Health Services NHS Foundation Trust (DCHS) monitors and manages our performance as an organisation, continue to improve our service offering and provide assurance to the Board of Directors.'

The Trust promotes a culture of continuous learning for all staff, and this document will evolve in response to the changing environment in which we operate.  In order for this framework to be robust all staff are encouraged to access appropriate training and development opportunities, including the suite of information on quality improvement methodologies referenced in the document below.

Performance Management and Assurance Framework - September 2023

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