The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme

Updated April 2024.

Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) is a national programme designed to improve the treatment and care through in-depth review of services, benchmarking, and presenting a data-driven evidence base to support change.

The programme undertakes clinically-led reviews of specialties, combining wide-ranging data analysis with the input and professional knowledge of senior clinicians to examine how things are currently being done and how they could be improved.

GIRFT is part of an aligned set of programmes within NHS England. The programme has the backing of the Royal Colleges and professional associations.

GIRFT workstreams include:

• Acute and general medicine
• Adult critical care
• Emergency medicine & urgent and emergency care programme
• Mental health – rehabilitation
• Mental health – adult crisis and acute care
• Mental health – children and young people’s services
• Neurology
• Paediatric critical care
• Radiology and diagnostics
• Stroke

GIRFT recommendations and data can be really helpful in demonstrating the need for improvements to services, and have the benefit of clinical backing.

Further Faster programme

GIRFT is working with NHS trusts as part of a programme called ‘Further Faster’ to deliver rapid clinical transformation with the aim of reducing 52-week waits.

The programme aims to support adoption of outpatient transformation guidance, including in neurology. Further information about the programme is available here.