Hear from our Heroes: Clinical Audit Professional of the Year (local)

Published: 01 Sep 2020

I felt very honoured and surprised to win Clinical Audit Professional of the Year in 2019 jointly with Colin Barnes. I knew I had been nominated but after seeing so many talented clinical audit staff at regional meetings and seeing the amazing work they had produced on the NQICAN forum I didn’t think I had a chance. I am very grateful to my colleagues for the glowing nomination and for the support they continue to give me every day.

It takes a special kind of person to work in clinical audit and over the years I have met many colleagues, some who have moved on to other things and some who have become clinical audit “lifers”. All of them have shown me different ways of working and thinking and have helped to shape and evolve our team. It is a job which is so varied and gives access to meeting so many brilliant people and so many opportunities for learning I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.

Excellent leadership within our team and the Trust as a whole has given our team the freedom to experiment with new ideas and to use our initiative to increase engagement and get the most out of the projects we facilitate. Our team is encouraged to be innovative and we feel empowered to use our roles to help colleagues drive improvement. Winning the audit hero award felt amazing as it gave us recognition that we were going in the right direction. It wasn’t until I read my nomination that I realised how much we had achieved and I think that is true for all clinical audit and quality improvement staff. We work hard every day but never really stop to take stock of how much we have done. Submitting a nomination for the Audit Hero Awards is a chance to do just that. I would encourage all teams to think about their positive experiences and the staff who have helped to make these happen. From my own experience a nomination for these awards was a massive boost not only for me but for my team and our Trust. We received congratulations from across the Trust and had a visit from our chief executive.

There are no other national awards which recognise the work of clinical audit staff and the clinical staff who dedicate their time to completing projects to drive improvement. We are a hard working group and the quality of the care of our patients is always at the heart of what we do. To anyone considering nominating themselves or their colleagues for any of the audit hero awards I would recommend you to take this opportunity and go for it.

Sarah Cutler
Clinical Audit & Compliance Facilitator
Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust

To find out how to make a nomination for the 2020 Audit Heroes Awards, visit our dedicated awards page.