National Clinical Audit Advisory Group

The National Clinical Audit Advisory Group (NCAAG) has been established by the Department of Health to drive the reinvigoration of the national clinical audit programme and provide a national focus for discussion and advice on matters relating to clinical audit. The NCAAG is also the steering group for the expanded National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP), hosted by HQIP.

NCAAG is the voice for clinical audit in the Department of Health and at the centre of the NHS. NCAAG will seek to enhance the existing programme of national clinical audits and support the many NHS staff involved in local audits.

NCAAG functions can be summarised as:

• to drive the reinvigoration of clinical audit, both nationally and locally, yielding new publicly available information to support improvements to clinical practice and service delivery
• to be the steering group to the NCAPOP, providing advice and guidance on the overall programme of work, and in particular to consider proposals for new audits or for discontinuing existing audits
• to advise on issues as requested by the Department of Health, and in the first instance:
  • to advise on how local clinical audit might best support the development of quantified data
  • to inform the revalidation of medical professionals, liaising closely with the Professional Regulation White Paper working group on medical education and revalidation
  • to examine whether the quality of local clinical governance and audit processes could be linked to the premiums paid to the NHS Litigation Authority and the relationship between individual practitioners and the premium paid by them to medical insurers/protection societies.
• to recommend how best the Connecting for Health programme can support national and local audit

www.advisorybodies.doh.gov.uk/ncaag

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