Welcome to the Clinical Audit Support Centre
Issue 3 of Clinical Audit Today now available online
Clinical Audit Today was launched in the Autumn of 2008 and is currently the only “pure” clinical audit journal available in the UK. The third issue of the journal is available and features a range of thought provoking articles from clinical audit professionals: Gemma Barker, John Grant-Casey and Neil Hampson. The journal also includes details of NICE’s shared learning awards and updates on the work of HQIP, NCAAG and NICE. Stephen Ashmore has also written an editorial asking why all the top audit jobs appear to be held by men! To read the journal, click here. If you would like to read previous issues, click here to access journal No 1 and here to access journal No 2. We are always interested in receiving articles for the publication. Please contact us if you wish to share your work and/or thoughts on audit with others working in the field.
Book now for our 2020 conference in September
CASC’s third national audit conference will take place in Leicester on 16th September 2009. This will be an action packed event with the full programme now confirmed including: Dr Tim Brabants (Doctor and Olympic Gold medal winner), Professor Mike Pringle, Roisin Boland (CEO of the International Society for Quality in Healthcare), Boo Armstrong (NCAAG member - pictured) and Dr Paul Hodgkin (Director of Patient Opinion website). The day will include short update sessions from NICE, NPSA, HQIP and NAGG. There will also be an Audit in Action hour featuring winners of last year’s poster exhibition. Once again, the event will include an interactive exhibition and poster competition with a top prize of £200. The conference takes place at the Athena centre in Leicester, an excellent venue with great transport links to major roads and Leicester Railway station. The conference is competitively priced and is great value for money when compared with other national events of this kind. To book your place or to find out more about the event please email info@clinicalauditsupport.com.
CASC reveal details of new leadership course
CASC have a reputation for developing and delivering accredited training for healthcare professionals and we have just released initial details of the High Impact Leadership course for Clinical Audit Professionals. The course will be delivered in partnership with author and trainer Andy Cope (pictured) and there are six modules that can be accessed together or individually. We are still finalising details and we have recently approached the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership Ltd to find out if they are willing to collaborate on this venture and help support the course. It is expected that the first intake of learners will join in the Autumn and further details will be released in June. If you wish to register interest for the course, please email your details to info@clinicalauditsupport.com
Clinical audit jobs bulletin launched
The Clinical Audit Support Centre recently launched their new Clinical Audit Jobs Bulletin. Every two weeks we search through all of the clinical audit-related jobs advertised on the NHS jobs website and produce a relevant document that will enable audit professionals to see what jobs are currently available. We list the main descriptors for each role, e.g. employing organisation, job title, salary, location and closing date. We have also noted the job reference number that will allow you to find further details of jobs that you want more information on without spending lots of time searching the entire NHS jobsite database. To download the Jobs Bulletin, click here.
New definition of clinical audit revealed
The Clinical Audit Support Centre have been informed that Professor Nick Black (Chair of the National Clinical Audit Advisory Group) revealed a new definition for clinical audit at the recent HQIP conference in Sutton Coldfield. The new definition is as follows: “Clinical audit is the quantitative assessment of the quality (principally the effectiveness) of care being provided compared either to agreed, documented evidence-based criteria or to the performance of other providers or commissioners. Its aim is both to stimulate quality improvement interventions and to assess their impact.” We were unaware that a new definition was being worked on and this has generated an interesting response on the NAGG forum. If you wish to comment on the definition and add to the debate, visit www.nagg.nhs.uk and checkout the General Discussion section on their website.
Clinical audit apprentice course launched
15 clinical audit and governance professionals met up in Leicester on 20th May 2009 to take part in CASC’s first-ever Clinical Audit Dragons Den meets The Apprentice course. The event proved a great success with delegates working in teams to explore ways of solving traditional audit problems, such as: how to raise the profile of clinical audit, involving patients more effectively in the audit process and refining the current definition of clinical audit. A healthy sense of competition emerged during the course of the day and fellow dragon David Wilkin (Head of Finance and Procurement for West Midlands Police) provided some excellent non-NHS perspectives. Alice Kennedy (overall winner) and Debbie Pickford (runner-up) are pictured with the dragons. The day evaluated exceptionally well and we plan to run the course again in the Autumn. Please contact us if you would like to register your interest.
Newscast for 2009 quarter one is now available
The Clinical Audit Support Centre’s latest newscast is now available on our website and via iTunes. The newscast reviews events that have taken place in the world of clinical audit from January to March 2009. Since setting up our Podcasc service we have recorded a total of 25 podcasts – all available online. We plan to record more blogs in the near future. If you have an idea for an innovative podcast please contact us as we are keen to feature the work of others via this innovative format.
CASC video provides further details of our work
The Clinical Audit Support Centre has a reputation for innovation and our podcasting service is now a well-established and popular part of our website. We are delighted to announce that we have now moved beyond audio media by launching Clinical Audit TV. The facility is available on the CASC website and via YouTube. We initially produced a short film looking at the work of Florence Nightingale during the Crimean War. At the start of 2009 we released a short promotional video providing further details of how we operate and some of the organisations that we have been working with over the course of the last 12 months. We will soon be releasing a video looking at the clinical audit process. To access Clinical Audit TV, click here..
Request your CASC information pack
CASC have developed a series of promotional materials that provides you with more details of the work that we support. The wallet of information includes a set of seven inserts: Introducing CASC, training and accreditation, support and consultancy, sharing best practice, event management, train the trainer in clinical audit and case studies. The materials provide a great overview of how we work with healthcare professionals to improve the care that they deliver and there are a number of excellent case studies that show how our work has enabled organisations and teams to collaborate with us on ventures that have improved care, assured best practice and led saved money. If you would like to receive your copy, please email your name and full postal address to info@clinicalauditsupport.com
Register for the CASC E-News!
Since we launched our E Newsletter in February 2007 over 1,000 healthcare professionals have signed up! The E News is free and delivered direct to your email account every two months. The newsletter provides you with a mix of CASC-related and other clinical audit news to help you keep up to date with what is happening in the world of clinical audit. If you have missed a previous issue of E News please visit the community section of our website where all previous issues are archived. Follow this link to sign up for your copy.
Recent publications relating to clinical audit
Since the publication of the Chief Medical Officer’s report Good Doctors, Safer Patients (2006) concluded “clinical audit falls short of its potential” work has begun to reinvigorate clinical audit in the UK. With this in mind, there have been a number of important national documents published relating to clinical audit. Details of the most influential include:
February 2008 – Department of Health update on clinical audit
January 2008 – new arrangements for clinical audit, published by the Department of Health
February 2007 – Trust, Assurance and Safety white paper, published by the Department of Health. Click here to find out more