Audits are important for General Practices to conduct. The data collected here can help you understand how you are performing. As a healthcare provider, you will be familiar with the regulatory audits you must regularly complete, such as the hand hygiene audit, to comply with the CQC.

There are additional things you may wish to audit, based on the additional services that an individual practice offers. For example, if a practice offers minor surgical procedures or midwifery services, there will be extra things within the CQC regulations that this practice will need to audit. These audits include sterilising surgical areas or performing certain tests on expectant mothers.

When it comes to a Primary Care Network, or a PCN, several of these services may be covered across the whole organisation, with the core regulations as a standard across every practice which all require auditing. However, separate General Practices within PCNs usually have their own way of managing things. This may lead to some difficulty in deciding and understanding how everyone is doing across the Network and make improvement harder.

A digital audit system can help PCNs make sure that all the individual practices are singing from the same hymn sheet. It can make sure that everyone is collecting the same data and make it much faster and easier.

Current Problems with Audits.

Firstly, each practice within a PCN usually has its own way of managing things. Two or more practices within your PCN may have a similar problem. However, each practice may have different questions on their audit forms. One practice may be asking things other ones aren’t and getting different information.

Also, it’s possible that some practices are managing audits on paper while others are on Word or Excel documents. There’s no easy way to make sure that everyone is using the same questions, let alone doing something with the answers afterwards. Not only does this make audits time-consuming and difficult to complete, it also makes understanding the information more difficult.

So, what small change can PCNs make to improve, reduce complaints and increase compliments?

The Ideal Solution: Going Digital.

What’s needed is one digital system for audits that can be accessed across the entire PCN, collecting the same audit data into one system. This means that each practice can access the same audit form to collect the same information.

The digital system will make audits much easier by being fast and easy to use, as well as being always accessible to everyone. A digital system will save time, save money and is more reliable.

Audit Oversight from InPhase.

Going digital can sound quite daunting, and it gives the impression that it will be more complicated than it needs to be. However, the right digital tool can make things so much easier and quicker by being much more easily accessible.

Audit Oversight from InPhase is a super simple way to do your audits. The audit forms are quick and easy to use, saving you 1000s of hours each year. Featured next to the questions are little question mark icons that give you hints and tips that help you answer the questions in the best way.

Oversight also makes sure that everyone is answering the same questions. The same version of the audit you want to complete is available to everyone – and they make sure you’re up to date on the latest regulations, so you’re always in the best position to help patients and improve your service. This puts everyone on the same path so you can pull together in the same direction.

It's also proven to reduce costs and raise CQC ratings. You can find out more about that by reading Mayflower Medical Group's case study here.

If your PCN or General Practice is looking to move towards a digital way of managing audits, speak to one of our experts today.

Robert Hobbs

Chief Executive Officer

InPhase’s Chief Executive and Founder, Robert has been the visionary leading InPhase to be one of the UK's leading providers of management, governance and assurance solutions, and helping organisations align their actions and goals more easily and efficiently with InPhase's suite of integrated apps.