Introducing quality assurance: an exercise in audacity

The purpose of the paper is to examine commitment to quality assurance within health authorities.

The paper discusses approaches to achieving the requisite changes, including what to change and how to increase readiness for change; motives for change, where to start and prerequisites for change.

The paper finds that health authorities have a tendency to look at quality assurance as a professional luxury which deals with the subtleties of care rather than with its essence and that a strategy for change is needed.

The paper provides useful information on the development of quality assurance in health care.