ABSTRACT
County Durham and Darlington Community Health Services (CDDCHS) formulated a strategy to improve patient outcomes, safety and service efficiency by developing and implementing a large-scale quality improvement programme across the organization. CDDCHS was the primary care provider for a large, semi-rural area around Durham and Darlington, serving a diverse community of around 600,000 people across the region. They employed approximately 3,000 staff and had an annual budget of £1.1 billion to spend on services. They provided over 50 services, such as community nursing, speech and language therapy, podiatry, school nursing and the provision of outof-hours services. Under a later reorganization of the NHS the organization was partially merged with Primary Care in Darlington. The programme and its supporting infrastructure would also play a key role in helping CDDCHS with their journey towards a culture of continuous quality improvement.
