Striving for high quality care is one of the cornerstones in the management of nursing practice and implementing quality improvement initiatives contributes to this goal. In this paper an account is given of how the implementation of a quality initiative, a redesigned needs and strengths nursing assessment, contributed to an improvement in quality of life for a group of children who have learning disabilities. It is also postulated that the initiative may improve staff morale and lessen the likelihood of burn‐out—a phenomenon which can adversely effect the quality of care provided by nurses. A small pilot evaluation study using questionnaires and observation was undertaken to evaluate the initiative. Findings suggest that nursing assessment is one of the factors which has contributed to an improvement in the quality of interpersonal aspects of nursing care for the children at Oakla