Latest News
Who is staying and who is quan-going?
The Department of Health published ‘Liberating the NHS: Report of the arms-length bodies review’ on 28th July 2010. The report sets out proposals for arms-length bodies (ALBs) in the health and social care sector and is likely to have implications for healthcare staff working in clinical audit and quality improvement. The report focuses on the new coalition government’s strategy to increase accountability and transparency and reduce the number/cost of quangos. The report cuts the number of ALBs from 18 to between 8-10 and will deliver savings of over £180 million by 2015. Abolished quangos include: National Patient Safety Agency, Health Protection Agency and NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement. To access the report in full, click here.
CASC publish report on Clinical Audit Job Vacancies
The Clinical Audit Support Centre have recently published a fifteen page report looking at clinical audit job vacancies advertised between July 2009 and March 2010. The report looks at 140 vacancies and examines the range of clinical audit jobs on offer, salary banding for similar posts, vacancies per month, etc. The report will be of interest to all professionals working in clinical audit and the key finding is that the number of advertised vacancies has fallen significantly from 2009 to 2010. The report also includes a series of recommendations for audit staff and national organisations (e.g. HQIP, NCAAG and NAGG) and this report will be updated on a six-monthly basis to show trends over time. To download the report, please click here.
CASC invited to present at international event
The International Society for Quality in Health Care (ISQua) have invited the Clinical Audit Support Centre to present details of a joint national audit with the Royal Pharmaceutical Society at their 27th international conference taking place in Paris this Autumn. CASC support a range of national organisations in providing clinical audit advice and expertise and the Medicines Use Review Audit is an initiative that has enabled Community Pharmacists to monitor the care they deliver to patients and gain patient feedback. The national audit is available electronically and has proved extremely cost effective. We are in the process of developing more audit tools with the RPSGB and for those of you interested in finding out more about the ISQua conference, please visit www.isqua.org
NMP conference proves great success!
On 30th March the Clinical Audit Support Centre hosted the Non-Medical Prescribers conference at the NSPCC Training Centre in Leicestershire. There was great interest in the event with over 140 delegates attending. Keynote speakers included: Sam Sherrington (NMP National Advisor, National Prescribing Centre), Rebecca Cheatle (Professional Advisor, NMC) and Richard Griffith (University of Swansea). David Gerrett (National Patient Safety Agency) chaired the day and delegates had the opportunity to take part in two workshops looking at Appropriate Prescribing in Sexual Health and Appropriate Prescribing in Pain Management. The conference evaluated very highly and full details will be sent to participants very soon. CASC are continuing to run a wide range of education events, please contact us if you require more details / information.
Key news from the Belfry: HQIP conference roundup
The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership held their second national two-day conference from 27-28th April 2010. Key messages from the event included: a reminder for professionals to use the National Clinical Audit Forum and the first look at the planned Clinical Audit Knowledge Exchange. HQIP also launched a number of new documents, e.g. a guide to involving junior doctors in audit, using statistics in audit and guides on how to present clinical audit to the public. The event included a range of workshops and seven keynote speakers and interesting discussions took place on balancing national/local audit workloads and delivering clinical audit with less local resources. The highlight of the event was the evening reception that incorporated the Clinical Audit Awards ceremony culminating with Royal Berkshire winning the prestigious ‘gold’ award. Full details of the event are available via the HQIP website.
Book for various CASC courses in 2010
If you want to get 2010 off to a great start then Andy Cope’s Art of Being Brilliant course will be perfect for you! Andy is an accredited trainer/best selling author and his Art of Being Brilliant day will help you review your working practices and inspire you to make positive changes that will make a real impact. The course has run twice previously and feedback has been exceptionally positive with previous attendees finding the day incredibly thought provoking and useful. In addition to Art of Being Brilliant we have also updated our training diary and we are offering accredited courses in Advanced Audit, Train the Trainer in Clinical Audit and Root Cause Analysis during the first-half of 2010. Request more details and booking forms via info@clinicalauditsupport.com
Book now for Quality Accounts conference
Help the Hospices, in partnership with the Department of Health, is jointly hosting a quality accounts conference (12 May, London) to support hospices in meeting the statutory requirement of The Health Act 2009 to produce quality accounts. 'High quality care for all' proposed that all providers of NHS healthcare services should produce a quality account: an annual report to the public about the quality of services delivered. The Health Act 2009 places this requirement onto a statutory footing and from June 2010, all providers of hospice inpatient care will be required to produce a quality account. For further information email the courses and conferences team. Keynote speakers include: Neil Townley (Department of Health Quality Accounts Team) and Catherine Foot (Senior Fellow at The King’s Fund). The event will be chaired by Jo Blackburn (Director of Practice Development, Help the Hospices) and the cost of the event is just £115 plus VAT for non-members.
HQIP publish Trust Board guidance and report
The Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership have recently published ‘Clinical Audit – A simple guide for NHS Boards and partners’. The guidance – written by Dr John Bullivant and Andrew Corbett-Nolan – is designed to aid NHS Boards in managing their clinical audit programme. In addition, HQIP have also released findings from their recent NHS Trust Boards survey. 110 senior staff were quizzed as part of the survey and results show that 80% of respondents agree that Boards are making serious efforts to back auditors in reviewing audit results implementing change. The survey also showed the level of Board engagement has remained static in 55% but increased in 45% of cases (in the last 12 months). Relevant documents are available via www.hqip.org.uk and those with an interest in clinical audit may also be interested in reading the relevant article in Health Service Journal from 30th March (page 6) entitled ‘Board failing to engage on quality clinical audit’.