New Principles of Best Practice in Clinical Audit

With the NHS committed to making quality the centre of treatment, clinical audit - a proven and effective process for measuring quality and driving its improvement - has never been a more topical issue. Now thoroughly updated and rewritten, this new edition describes the process by which health professionals, managers and other NHS staff can assess the standard of care they deliver and how closely it corresponds with recommended best practice. It sets out the key principles of clinical audit practice, detailing advances in recent years such as simplified and accelerated audit, improved patient involvement, attention to ethics and methodology and the embedding of clinical audit in organisational governance as well as clinical practice. This book is essential reading for all those who undertake clinical audit or are training to do so, including health practitioners, managers and commissioners in the NHS. It will also be useful to patients who contribute to audit governance. Reviews from the first edition: This book should be available in all trusts and recommended to those of both junior and senior status who are about to invest time and energy in an audit project.' MEDICAL PROTECTION SOCIETY [W]ell-structured with summaries set out as key points throughout. The appendices give invaluable information on numerous websites for clinical guidelines, on clinical audit and clinical governance.' PHYSIOTHERAPY JOURNAL

Robin Burgess is chief executive of the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP), the organization responsible for supporting clinical audit in Great Britain.

Introduction: Foundations, tradition and new directions: the future of clinical audit in a new decade. Stage 1 - Preparation, planning and organisation of clinical audit. Stage 2 - Measuring Performance. Stage 3 - Implementing Change. Stage 4 - Sustaining Improvement Appendices Ethics and Clinical Audit. Clinical Audit, Impact and Quality Improvement - a discursive review. Change Management. Criteria and Indicators for best practice in clinical audit. Clinical Audit: a guide for NHS boards & partners. Patient and Public Engagement (PPE) in Clinical Audit. Further Sources of Help and Information. Abbreviations.