Standards for Better Health were a set of standards for the National Health Service in England.
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 had to 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 were replaced from 2009/10 by registration criteria[3] established by the Department of Health and Care Quality Commission, which took over from the Healthcare Commission on 1 April 2009.
Compliance with the core standards had always been mandatory but the approach taken by the Department of Health and Healthcare Commission with respect to the developmental standards varied.