The audit of medical practice is neither a new concept nor a new activity. All medical practitioners have examined the effects of their treatment and have assessed outcome for centuries. The major advances in medical practice, particularly during the twentieth century, would not have occurred without observing and assessing the effects of treatment regimes. The main effect of the changes indicated in the HM Government White Paper ‘Working for Patients’ and subsequently the National Health Service and Community Care Act (1990) and the directives from the various Royal Colleges has been to emphasise the need for audit activity and to introduce a more formal basis to audit. Audit has also been linked to the need for the cost-effective use of resources.

The purposes of this book are firstly to describe the philosophy of audit in medical practice; secondly to establish the types of information required by the different groups interested in audit; thirdly to outline the ways in which audit activity is being undertaken in various specialties; and fourthly to suggest a coherent pattern for audit and make recommendations for the acquisition and storage of large volumes of information.

Definitions

The general public concept of audit is the annual review of the ‘books’ of a business.