Clinical Audit
Background

Clinical audit is a key mechanism for facilitating the continuous improvement of health services.  It involves the systematic measuring of clinical performance against agreed standards, and action to correct any shortfalls found.  It can also promote the recognition and dissemination of good practice.

Clinical audit often focuses on the clinical treatment given to patients with particular conditions. Audit can alternatively focus on the clinical outcomes experienced by patients.  Often external evidence based standards are not available for clinical outcomes, and comparison with peers is needed to determine acceptable performance.

Many of the existing  national information sources provide useful starting points for Trusts and Boards wishing to assess the clinical outcomes experienced by their patients. In addition ISD can support outcomes focused clinical audit both through providing comparative information on patient outcomes to give an overview of clinical performance, and through providing case listings of patients with particularly poor outcomes to facilitate detailed local investigations.

In addition there are four clinically led National Audit Projects.

Go to  Clinical Audit links for more information on Clinical Audit