Assuring care: are we ready to move beyond compliance measurement against targets?

Editorial: Surely we must be reaching saturation point with metrics and dashboards and the like? These top-down measures, often imposed on clinical teams and workplaces, are championed by some as assuring quality of care, whereas what they generally do is measure compliance with targets - even if that was not the original intention. The way they are set up and uniformly implemented means they often stifle local ownership and a sense of individuality and while they may lead to some improvement in care, they do not address the fundamentals of achieving innovation in caring practice. They often miss some of the most vital aspects of person-centred care - those that matter most to people receiving and providing care.