Improvement science in anaesthesia

The Francis Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust public inquiry reminded us all that people must come before numbers and it is the individual experiences that lie behind statistics, benchmarks and action plans that really matter. This burning platform in addition to the other challenges facing the NHS, namely times of austerity and an increasing age of the population, means that new ways of thinking are needed. Rather than concentrating on just new drugs or technologies, we need to concentrate on the fidelity of healthcare, that is, improving systems to ensure the delivery of care to all patients in need.