PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Tom Hutchinson
AU  - John Young
AU  - Duncan Forsyth
TI  - National pilot audit of intermediate care
AID  - 10.7861/clinmedicine.11-2-146
DP  - 2011 Apr 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - 146--149
VI  - 11
IP  - 2
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/11/2/146.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/11/2/146.full
SO  - Clin Med2011 Apr 01; 11
AB  - The National Service Framework for Older People resulted in the widespread introduction of intermediate care (IC) services. However, although these services have shared common aims, there has been considerable diversity in their staffing, organisation and delivery. Concerns have been raised regarding the clinical governance of IC with a paucity of data to evaluate the effectiveness, quality and safety of these services. This paper presents the results of a national pilot audit of IC services focusing particularly on clinical governance issues. The results confirm these concerns and provide support for a larger scale national audit of IC services to monitor and improve care quality.