It has long been seen that audit is just a “tick box” exercise, but today we are here to dispel this myth. At times, audit was seen by many as a ‘chore’ burdensome that had to be done to fulfil a requirement and as such it was often grudgingly performed with little insight into its value. The Clinical Audit team have been working hard with staff in the Trust and providing better awareness about audit to showcase their value and importance. This is to highlight the impact audits has on our services and ensuring patients receive the best quality care. A good example of this is:

1. The National Asthma and COPD Audit Programme (NACAP)  – Pulmonary Rehabilitation workstream – NELFT COPD services are participating in this audit.  The programme’s proactive approach to engaging patients and carers, and their work visiting clinics to ask children and their families about what matters to them in their care, are among the many reasons why they were named this year’s Richard Driscoll Memorial Award winner.
2. National Diabetic Foot Care audit  – Karen Wise and Nadine Price from Waltham Forest Podiatry team have been shortlisted for the BMJ Award 2021 for the category “Diagnostics identifying wound infection”.
3. The hidden cost of not having a dual diagnosis team (an audit looking at inpatient admissions for Redbridge CRT West)-  Dr Madeeha Bandukda successfully presented the Audit e-Poster at the Annual RCPsych Virtual International Congress in June 2021.

 If you require further information, please contact the team at caudit@nelft.nhs.uk.