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    Audit or Peer Review?




    What it is
    Who to ask for advice
    The Application Form
    End of Project Report




    What it is
    Who to ask for advice
    The Application Form
    Setting the Standard
    Setting the Sample Size
    End of Project Report     Example Audits



    Facilitators Area  

Welcome

As part of Clinical Governance, all NHS General Dental Practitioners (including employees, assistants and part-timers) are required to complete at least 15 hours of Clinical Audit and/or Peer Review per three year cycle. Whether you do one, the other, or both, is your choice.

Peer Review and Clinical Audit are now an established part of NHS Dental Practice. Government funding for these activities ceased in early 2006, and remuneration for time spent undertaking them is included in an NHS Practice's "Base Contract".

An NHS dentist may be requested to prove to their PCT that they have undertaken 15 hours of CA and/or PR in any three year period. (The periods run April 2004-07, 2007-10 etc). Production of a written report on their project would normally be sufficient to satisfy an initial inquiry.

The 2001 narrow NHS definition of what constitutes "Clinical Audit" no longer applies. Your project could be more along the lines of a survey, or monitoring, or practice based research. It is between you and your PCT to decide to what is acceptable.

Audit Outlines

Sample individual clinical audit applications, already filled in, can be downloaded here - click on a title:

      Alginates
      Medical Histories
      Radiographs
      BPEs
      Broken Recall appointments

Do not send these applications off - just use them as a guide for setting up your own audit.



I haven't done a project yet for this cycle - what happens now?

Failure to complete a CA or PR project in any three-year cycle is a breach of your contract. It is up to your PCT to monitor your Clinical Governance, and decide appropriate action in cases of non-compliance with the contract.


Does it count as Verifiable CPD?

Yes. A properly written CA or PR report, with an accurate account of time spent, clearly stated aims and outcomes etc, will satisfy the GDC if they make an initial inquiry.


This site is an archived version of the original West Midlands Local Assessment Panel web site. It will help to explain to dentists how to conduct Peer Review and Clinical Audit in General Dental Practice. It will also be helpful to consult the document Modernising NHS Dentistry - CA and PR in the GDS for advice on the fine details.



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