An audit of clinical supervision in primary care

This article reports on an audit of clinical supervision in one primary care trust (PCT). Data were collected by telephone interviews with 44 respondents from a range of professions occupying different clinical and managerial grades in the organization. Clinical supervision was varied both in terms of its availability and management between different professional groups and teams reflecting, in part, differing levels of motivation towards supporting clinical supervision by individual practitioners and managers as well as a perceived lack of trust leadership. Respondents also reported several potential and actual benefits of clinical supervision, including the improvement and standardization of practice and the facilitation of learning and professional development, although there was no consensus regarding the most appropriate format (e.g. individual, group or team) or structure (e.g. uni-professional or multi-professional) for clinical supervision. It was widely agreed that the introduction of mechanisms for monitoring both the process and outcomes of supervision, greater protection of time allocated for supervision and more training opportunities to increase the skill and number of available supervisors were needed.