Advancing Quality Alliance (Aqua)

Established in 2010, the Advancing Quality Alliance (AQuA) is an North West based NHS health and care quality improvement organisation, at the forefront of transforming the safety and quality of healthcare. Our aim is to improve services for patients, by supporting organisations to build quality improvement capabilities across all levels of their workforce, and to develop and implement strategies to address specific quality priorities. We uniquely combine five techniques which improve outcomes for our members and customers: • Analysis - Provide meaningful comparative information about quality and safety priorities • Improvement – Lead programmes to target local quality improvement priorities • Training - Build workforce capability in quality improvement skills • Collaboration - Learn and share with peers through networks and partnerships • Innovation - Access to national and international expertise Each year we develop a range of programmes as part of our annual membership offer, which can be tailored to meet the needs of individual organisations or health and care systems. Our work is predominantly with our member organisations, which comprises over 70 North West providers and commissioners of health and care services. Aside from the work we do with members, we undertake consultancy and grant-funded opportunities, working alongside a number of national and internationally renowned healthcare improvement organisations.