What is clinical audit?
What is clinical audit?#
NHS England describes clinical audit in the following way [1]:
“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.”
In England the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP), on behalf of the National Health Service (NHS), is responsible for over-seeing and commissioning more than 30 clinical audits, which form the National Clinical Audit Programme. These collect and analyse data supplied by local clinicians.
The national audit covering stroke is the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP). SSNAP collects longitudinal data on the processes and outcomes of stroke care up to 6 months post-stroke for more than 90% of stroke admissions to acute hospitals in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. Every year data from approximately 85 000 patients are collected. SSNAP publishes quarterly and yearly analysis of results on its website [2].
NHS. Clinical Audit. 2021. Available from: https://www.england.nhs.uk/clinaudit/
SSNAP. Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme. 2021. Available from: https://www.strokeaudit.org/