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Introduction and index to projects

  • Last modified date:
    8 February 2007

Website item for Audit Projects

Earlier this year, we asked for ideas and bids for projects that would help drive internal audit development forward, and help internal audit teams manage the new agenda.  The aim was to generate ideas, and provide practical examples of the way in which different organisations were tackling their structural and assurance related issues.

A number of projects were submitted and have now been approved.   Most are now under way and all are scheduled for completion before the end of March 2002.  It may be possible to publish some interim results on the Department of Health website prior to that date.

A list of the approved projects is given below, and it can be seen that they cover topics that are an important part of the new agenda for internal auditors and NHS organisations. These also build on the internal audit vision paper.  Particular themes are:

  • Introducing clinical governance into organisational structures
  • Working with clinical audit
  • Aligning risk and audit plans
  • Co-ordinating the work of the various review agencies in the assurance process (unified audit)
  • Lessons from CSA workshops
  • Automated audit working papers
  • I.T. Training for auditors
  • Sharing of good practice

Sharing and Learning

Expressions of interest to undertake audit and governance related projects were sought from internal audit teams over the last 6 months or so. These are now coming to fruition and are posted on this site so that NHS organisations and their internal auditors can use them either as idea generating data, or simply to learn lessons from the experiences of others. They are not necessarily intended to represent 'best practice' but the successes and difficulties experienced during the projects should be a helpful pointer to others contemplating similar initiatives.

1. South Coast Audit - A joint project between internal audit and the clinical governance function of an acute trust. The project provides a comparison of Governance arrangements in two acute Trusts together with an examination of the roles of clinical audit and internal audit in the assurance process.

2. Central Lancashire Audit Services - A review of clinical governance and clinical audit arrangements in Community Trust. This project involves working with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, using and adapting the Royal College's self-assessment tool.

3. Central England Audit & Consultancy - An example of internal audit working with other experts to develop an approach to 'Unified Assurance' on risk and control issues. This is primarily based around self-assessment workshops facilitated by internal audit, which identify risks, good practice and controls, and results in an audit plan that identifies the most appropriate form of assurance for the risk in question. The output comprises a report. (Additional examples for Oxfordshire Mental Healthcare NHS Trust, Child and Adolescent Mental Healthcare Services (Park Hospital) and Oxfordshire Learning Disability NHS Trust, Community Team for People who have a Learning Disability (Cherwell/West Team) are available from David Parker.

4. CW Audit Services

5. North Derbyshire and Sheffield Audit Services - A study into Risk-Based Integrated Audit. This approach uses a self-assessment workshop methodology developed in-house and identifies the benefits to organisations and auditors of such an approach. The project included examination of how this fits in with the mandatory audit standards and the Government Internal Audit Standards.

6. The Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust - This paper has been produced by the clinical governance lead in the Trust and provides a case study of the way in which the Trust proposes to address the challenge of setting up a framework for the promulgation and evaluation of clinical governance.

7. Devon & Cornwall Audit Confederation - An example of a self-assessment approach to risk assessment/treatment, facilitated by internal audit.

8. South London Health Audit - Lessons learned from a comparison of the CSA and traditional audit approaches to HR/Payroll.

9. Sunderland Internal Audit Services - An example of how internal audit faces up to new challenges in a review of decontamination of reusable medical devices.

10. Sunderland Internal Audit Services - An audit approach to PMS reflecting the change of emphasis from inputs under GMS to clinical outcomes.

11. Suffolk Audit Services - This report contains case studies and evaluation tools developed by an internal audit team to provide independent assurance on the management and control of risk in clinical specialties at acute Trusts. The evaluation tools can be used to undertake internal assessments of Trust-wide clinical governance and local arrangements in individual specialties, enabling organisations and departments to critically self-assess the adequacy of their clinical governance structures and processes, to record evidence of activity undertaken to improve service quality and to identify areas where further improvement may be needed.

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