Linking Clinical Audit in General Dental Services to Primary Care Trust Clinical Governance—Progress Report of an Approach Used in Southend

Abstract

Clinical audit has been defined as the systematic, critical analysis of the quality of dental care, including the procedures and processes used for diagnosis, intervention and treatment, the use of resources and the resulting outcome and quality of life as assessed by both professionals and patients. The aim of clinical audit is to encourage dentists to self-examine different aspects of their practices, to implement improvements where the need is identified and to reexamine, from time to time, those areas that have been audited to ensure that a high quality of service is being maintained or further improved. Since 1st April 2001, all general dental practitioners (principals and assistants) working in the General Dental Services (GDS) have been required to participate in a rolling programme of at least 15 hours of clinical audit or peer review every three years. The first three-year cycle ended on 31st March 2004. By the end of December 2003, 96% of dentists had either under- taken or committed to undertake clinical audit/peer review activities. This initiative, in conjunction with the voluntary clinical audit and peer review schemes which preceded it, has provided opportunities for dentists and their practices to use these activities to assist in quality improvements in their practices, for the benefit of their patients. However, there are other methods for carrying out clinical audit and, in the NHS, there is a need to link it to clinical governance. This paper gives a progress report on an approach that has been piloted by Southend Primary Care Trust (PCT). It deals with the rationale for the project and outlines the methods used. It does not report results. These will follow in a subsequent paper.