Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust: our approach to performance management

Southampton University Hospitals Trust has developed a performance management strategy which is improving service quality, overcoming interdepartmental blockages and delivering significant savings with greater departmental ownership and commitment. The strategy also offers a solution to the age‐old problem of if and when to market test by doing this only when it is apparent the in‐house team cannot deliver the required level of performance. This is achieved by agreeing the initiating key targets to reach or improve on high levels of performance using a variety of techniques including benchmarking, value management and external technical advice.