Recommendation 10

NHSE acknowledged the scale of variation and that tackling variation was one way it was trying to improve performance overall.20 NHSE told us that the reasons for variation will be different in different places. For example, some areas may have a disproportionately more frail population, may struggle to attract workforce or even may not have focused on frailty as a priority in the way that NHSE would want.21 NHSE told us that it is working with ICBs, through regular assurance meetings, on how to identify outliers and address variation, across and in some cases, within an ICB. It noted that it is asking ICBs in areas with negative outliers or particularly low numbers of people being assessed or offered interventions to tackle poor performance.22 15 Q 3 16 C&AG’s Report, para 3.13 and figure 12. 17 Q 25 18 C&AG’s Report, para 3.6 19 Q 10;C&AG’s Report, para 3.13 and figures 12 and 13. 20 Q 11 21 Q 31 22 Qq 3, 11 and 30 9