Clinical audit

Clinical audit is a way to find out if healthcare is being provided in line with standards and lets care providers and patients know where their service is doing well, and where there could be improvements.

The aim is to allow quality improvement to take place where it will be most helpful and will improve outcomes for patients. Clinical audits can look at care nationwide (national clinical audits) and local clinical audits can also be performed locally in trusts, hospitals or GP practices anywhere healthcare is provided.

Take Part in our Clinical Audit User Needs Research Survey

We are developing a learning community for NHS staff to learn and apply learning about clinical audit. For this to be successful we need to ensure we understand what people need. The Clinical Audit User Research Needs survey has been created to collect user insights by conducting interviews and surveys with NHS staff. We would like to invite you to take part in a short survey as part of detailed user needs research to gain a better understanding of how NHS staff interact with clinical audits, how they interpret the information and apply the national recommendations at a local level.

You can take part in this survey here or you can contact us via england.improvementdelivery@nhs.net.

Take part in our Clinical audit user needs research survey

We are developing a community for NHS staff to learn and apply learning about clinical audit. For this to be successful we need to ensure we understand what people need. We would like to invite you to take part in a short survey or 1-1 interview as part of detailed user needs research to gain a better understanding of how NHS staff interact with clinical audits, how information is interpreted and how the national recommendations are applied at a local level.

The results of this research will be used to:

  • co-create a knowledge hub that is accessible to all those with an interest in national clinical audit
  • facilitate a community of practice and strengthen peer support
  • provide an opportunity for shared learning
  • enable timely signposting of national clinical audit recommendations and best practice case studies.

Take part in the survey or email us to arrange a 1-1 interview.

The National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP)

NCAPOP audits are commissioned and managed on behalf of NHS England by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP). The programme comprises more than 30 national audits related to some of the most commonly-occurring conditions. These collect and analyse data supplied by local clinicians to provide a national picture of care standards for that specific condition. On a local level, NCAPOP audits provide local trusts with individual benchmarked reports on their compliance and performance, feeding back comparative findings to help participants identify necessary improvements for patients. Most of these projects involve services in England and Wales; some also include services from Scotland and Northern Ireland.

As well as the 30-plus national clinical audits, NCAPOP also encompasses the four Clinical Outcome Review Programmes (CORP). These help assess the quality of healthcare and stimulate improvement by enabling clinicians, managers and policy makers to learn from adverse events and other relevant data.

National Quality Improvement and Clinical Audit Network (NQICAN)

The National Quality Improvement and Clinical Audit Network (NQICAN) brings together the 15 regional clinical audit/effectiveness networks from across England.  NQICAN works closely with NHS England, NICE and HQIP.  It is NQICAN’s aim to support staff working in these areas in health and social care organizations; providing them with training, resources and giving them a ‘voice’ at national level.

All staff working within the field of quality improvement and clinical audit are encouraged to engage in their regional network and associated training opportunities.

The network provides practical guidance and support in relation to quality improvement, clinical audit including implementation of national audits, as well as related areas such as Quality Accounts, CQC Outcomes Framework , NHS LA Standards.  The network offers both added value to organizations and personal development to staff.  

More information, including the full list of regional networks with contact details can be found on the NQICAN website.