By the breadth of their intention, the Editors of this book set themselves an ambitious task. Their declared purpose was to establish the philosophy of audit in medical practice; to examine the sort of information needed by the different groups interested in audit; to describe how audit is currently practised in certain specialties; and to suggest a coherent pattern for audit and make recommendations for the acquisition and storage of large volumes of information. To this end, they recruited a wide panel of experts who have contributed to their theme. The end result is both timely and impressive and one which should provide a useful source of reference for clinicians, health economists, systems analysts and managers.

Each of these has a legitimate interest in and involvement with audit. The first step in the classical ‘audit cycle’ is that of observation and documentation. This helps to define a range of practice in whatever is being observed and hence to allow identification of substandard practice. Explicit recommendations for changes in process and practice are then made, so that performance is improved. After a period of time, this is followed by re-examination to ensure that standards set have been achieved and progress maintained.