Promoting a quality of service culture in health care: review of a Scottish initiative.

This paper is a review of a quality of service initiative which was carried out as a PICKUP Quality Project within the Scottish Health Service. This Quality Initiative took place between 1989 and 1990: before the emergence of The Patient's Charter. The aim of the review was to provide answers to a number of important questions which examined the perceptions of staff who took part in the Quality of Service initiative, identified parts of the process which were in need of substantial revision, and reported on the reactions of participants to the overall process. The methodology employed involved questionnaires and interview techniques. A number of problems were identified and, after examination, these were taken to indicate learning pointers for the future. It was evident that good quality of service training can be delivered, but only if it is clearly and appropriately tailored to the audience. It is also of fundamental importance to be familiar with the environment in which the organization is operating. In this instance, as is often the case for health care, there were considerable financial limitations in force at the time. These limitations heightened the general business sensitivity and showed that carrying through quality of service improvements involved the demonstration of commitment and the provision of resources.