Standards: Locally Led Standards Form Part of a Developing Total Quality Culture Available to Purchase

The involvement of all employees in a total quality programme is our aspiration. In practical terms, involvement and participation must start in a variety of ways. One of the effective means of achieving that through a systematic development of locally led standards is described from the viewpoint of a practitioner. There is no quick fix, no easy answer. Aims to share with the reader the experience of developing such a programme in a provider unit with over 2,500 staff. Discusses issues such as the effectiveness of locally developed standards, contribution of standards to a total quality programme, alienation of middle managers, inter‐department conflict, methodology of standard writing, etc. All these issues are not only central to any total quality implementation but are critical to the success of a standards programme.