Standards for Better Health

Standards for Better Health are a set of standards that the National Health Service in England must meet. The standards were set out by the Department of Health of the United Kingdom in a document of the same name published in 2004[1]. NHS trusts must declare their level of compliance with these standards to the Healthcare Commission annually as part of the Commission's Annual Health Check[2]. The standards will be replaced from 2009/10 by registration criteria[3] to be established by the Department of Health and Care Quality Commission, which will take over from the Healthcare Commission on 1 April 2009.