TY - JOUR T1 - Improving quality of care through national clinical audit JF - Future Hospital Journal JO - Future Hosp J SP - 203 LP - 206 DO - 10.7861/futurehosp.3-3-203 VL - 3 IS - 3 AU - Kevin Stewart AU - Ben Bray AU - Rhona Buckingham Y1 - 2016/10/01 UR - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/3/3/203.abstract N2 - The UK's national health services are unique in having a well established programme of national clinical audits and databases across medical, surgical and mental health conditions. The Royal College of Physicians’ (RCP) Clinical Effectivess and Evaluation Unit leads many of the largest and most mature audits in partnership with specialist societies, other colleges, patient groups and academic institutions. In this paper, we shall trace the development of national audit over the last 2 decades, explore the mechanisms by which this has helped improve care and discuss how national clinical audits and databases can best support quality improvement in the NHS of the future. ER -