A strategy to get NHS boards involved with clinical audit as part of their usual governance has been launched by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP).

The health consortium published the guide, "Clinical audit: A simple guide for NHS Boards and partners", to help boards improve patient care through clinical audit. It explains why boards should treat overseeing their own governance of clinical care as important and how clinical audit can help them do so more effectively.

The Audit Commission`s 2009 report, "Take it on Trust", found "few trusts could set out how clinical audit was being used in a systematic way to address risks".

The guidance will be launched at London`s Wellcome Collection on March 3 and Manchester`s The Place Hotel on April 13. It was written by Dr John Bullivant and Andrew Corbett-Nolan from the Good Governance Institute.

HQIP chief executive Robin Burgess said: "The guide is designed to help boards take real oversight of clinical audit within clinical governance. It will help boards quickly grasp how audit is an essential quality driver and can also stimulate and shape organisational strategic development."

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