Clinical Audit - Management of Clinical Audit

Management of Clinical Audit

Within Strategic Health Authorities the clinical governance lead is responsible for ensuring that there is a clinical audit programme within local trusts, and that this reflects national audit priorities. The clinical governance lead ultimately retains accountability for clinical audit, but may choose to delegate this role to another, the clinical audit lead. At a local level this individual will then be responsible for creating a clinical audit strategy, setting audit priorities, agreeing the audit programme, implementing the strategy and implementing the audit programme. The clinical governance lead however retains responsibility for ensuring that these tasks are completed and that clinical audit remains integrated with the other aspects of clinical governance.

The clinical audit lead has a clear role in creating the strategy for embedding clinical audit within the organisation, but the individual chosen must have more than just a nominal strategic role. The clinical audit lead should have a high profile within the organisation, and must champion clinical audit both to colleagues and management alike. The clinical audit lead should be actively involved in linkages to the other aspects of clinical governance to allow for the dissemination of clinical audit information and the setting of local clinical audit priorities.