Clinical audit
Clinical audit is a key tool to measure and monitor quality improvement in the services which we offer our patients, through the use of both National and local clinical audits. Clinical audit is used to monitor what we are currently doing clinically, and measuring it against evidence-based standards or ‘best practice’ measures, producing reports on how well we are doing against the best possible practice.
For any queries about clinical audit in NCH&C please contact: clinical.audit@nchc.nhs.uk
Local clinical audit
Local audits are to measure our own provision of services and to measure our effectiveness against ‘best practice’ which can be national guidelines, such as those issued by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) or our own clinical policies.
National Clinical Audits
National clinical audits allow us to compare our practice with similar community trusts across England. Due to the size of the national audit projects, data is collected from each of organisations and reported on retrospectively (data is provided about the year before).
Training
The Clinical Audit and Effectiveness Facilitator can also provide training to clinical staff participating in Clinical Audit. Contact clinical.audit@nchc.nhs.uk
The clinical audit and effectiveness committee
NCH&C has a clinical audit and effectiveness committee which oversees all clinical audit activity happening throughout the trust. The committee meets six times a year and reports to one of our sub-committees of the Board.
Useful clinical audit links
The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP) provide national best practice principles for clinical audit and to follow.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) provide national best practice advice on 5 key clinical areas:
- Clinical Guidelines
- Technology Appraisals
- Public Health guidance
- Interventional procedures
- Medical Technologies guidance
A monthly newsletter is circulated to health professionals detailing any new or developmental work completed.
Our Clinical Audit and Effectiveness Facilitator is part of the East of England Clinical Audit Network, which meets regularly and discusses both local and national clinical audit related topics.