Clinical audit makes progress in care and teamwork

Clinical audit should be about improving the delivery of care to patients as well as promoting multidisciplinary working in clinical teams. For clinical audit to move forward it must relate to, and be integrated with, four key areas: clinical effectiveness, the contracting process, patient-focused care and the development of clinical teams. This article discusses how users of health services can be helped to participate fully in clinical audit and its role in enhancing professional development of team members.