Quality audits

The Trust has an active programme of clinical audit, which is the process by which our own quality of care is compared with exemplar standards.  Clinical audit is carried out as part of our Clinical Governance framework to help us ensure that the Newcastle Hospitals are a safe place in which to be cared for. It also means that the benefits of any developments, advances and innovations which are highlighted through audit can be made available to our patients.

We have a Clinical Effectiveness and NICE Guidelines Committee in place which seeks annual clinical audit reports from each clinical service outlining audit activity in relation to both national and local priorities with a key emphasis on audit outcomes helping us to make changes to improve patient experience.  Priority is given to the comparison of standards of care with the Trust against external benchmarks, such as guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE).

We also take part in a range of nationally organised audits and collaborative investigations with key projects to compare the quality of clinical care and procedures carried out in hospitals and informing local action to improve patient experience and outcomes.  These include the following:

Cancer

• Bowel cancer audit project (NBOCAP)
• Oesophago-gastric (stomach) cancer audit
• Mastectomy and breast reconstruction audit
• Head and neck cancer audit (DAHNO)
• Lung cancer (LUCADA)

Cardiac

• Adult cardiac surgery audit
• Paediatric cardiac surgery audit
• Heart failure 
• Myocardial Infarction (heart attack) National Audit Programme (MINAP)

Older people

• Audit of falls and bone health in older people
• National sentinel audit of stroke

Go to the Healthcare Commission website to find out more about these national audits.

Other national audits include:

• Trauma Audit Research Network (TARN)
• National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcomes and Deaths (NCEPOD)