Ethical considerations for Clinical Audit

When ethical review is required::

When ethical review is not required: 

Supplier involvement in Clinical Audit:

Distinguishing between Audit, Research and Service Evaluations:

The aim is to maintain confidentiality and to ensure that the audit process causes no distress to the patient or carer by:

• ensuring that the Trust code of confidentiality surrounding patient data is adhered to at all times
• collecting data anonymously wherever possible
• minimising the need for the direct involvement of patients and relatives and handling it sensitively where it is necessary
• shredding all associated paperwork containing patient identifiers at the completion of an audit
• ensuring that in the final report there should is no way that a link could be made between the audit conclusions and named patients
• only sharing audit results with peers with the prior consent of those who performed the audit

It is acceptable to use data that is already available and routinely collected without additional patient involvement, provided that confidentiality and anonymity are maintained.