Leicestershire Primary Care Audit Group (PCAG) was established in 1991. Formerly known as Leicestershire Medical Audit Advisory Group (MAAG), the main aim of the department over the last decade has been to encourage and help practices participate in clinical audit.
Since the inception of the PCAG, audit has evolved considerably. One of the major changes to occur has been the shift away from doctor-led audit towards a more multi-disciplinary approach. To reflect this development, in 1996 the MAAG changed its name to Leicestershire PCAG. Moreover, PCAG started to undertake work with all members of the Primary Health Care Team, not just GPs.
More recently, with the publication of A First Class Service, the PCAG has broadened its work programme to include many elements of clinical governance, and not just audit. Mutually strong relationships have been built with Primary Care Groups and Trusts and PCAG's Service Agreement is now dictated by the needs and requirements of the PCTs.
In February 2003, PCAG moved from Eastern Leicester PCT's offices at Mansion House on Guildhall Lane to Enkalon House, 92 Regent Road. Since April 2002, PCAG has been hosted service by the Eastern Leicester PCT. The hosting arrangements will not affect the work that the department undertakes and the PCAG will continue to be a resource accessible to all primary care staff across Leicestershire & Rutland.
PCAG have devised an information leaflet giving full details of the organisation and the services that we provide. Please contact Shirley Startin on 0116 295 1482 if you would like a copy.
Leicester PCAG is a resource for Primary Care Trusts along with all members of the Primary Health Care Team who are involved in clinical audit and clinical governance.
PCAG's work programme is laid out in the service level agreement that has been agreed with all PCTs in the county. A small steering group that includes representatives from all PCTs has been set up to regularly check and monitor the work that the department undertakes. The steering group is also responsible for formulating future service agreements and deciding what work the PCAG undertakes.
The PCAG will also help PCTs to undertake localised clinical governance and audit projects, although these may need to be approved by the PCAG steering group and a cost may be attached.
Although PCAG is a small team, its members have skills and expertise in a variety of fields.
PCAG have a great deal of experience in helping primary care staff to devise and undertake clinical audits. The PCAG team are always happy to hear from members of the Primary Care Health Team who require help and advice on audit work, so please do not hesitate to contact us at any time.
Leicestershire PCAG also produces audit protocols on a regular basis (see Multi-practice Audit and Interface Audit pages). These protocols help practices to undertake audits on key topics. Our audit protocols are based on the best available evidence, and all have been rigorously tested to ensure that they are user-friendly.
PCAG have been active in developing systems for computerised audit (see electronic audit pages). Using Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) as an example, PCAG have developed a system of electronic templates for data collection and a set of Miquest queries for rapid audit of a condition. Miquest produces results comparable to manual audit in a fraction of the time. PCAG have now commenced a programme to roll this out to practices, providing the support and training on template installation, register creation / maintenance and feedback of electronic audit data. We have developed a system that will support the district wide audit of CHD and established the principles that will enable the extension of the idea to the electronic audit of other conditions.
Since the PCAG was formed in 1991, the department has gained a good reputation for running high quality training events. For example, in 1997 and 2003 the PCAG organised the National Primary Care Audit Group Conference and for the last 6 years PCAG have run Leicestershire's annual practice nurse conference.
The department also runs an accredited course in Clinical Audit Skills. This is a nine-month programme, which all primary care staff are eligible to apply for. Learners who join the course undertake an audit relevant to their practice, under the guidance of a mentor. To help reinforce their knowledge of audit, learners also attend a series of seminars and help days that teach them about the key aspects of audit.
All PCAG training events are free and are advertised on the Dates for the Diary pages.
Since December 2000 PCAG have used FORMIC to process all audit data collection forms returned to the department.
Formic is a powerful software tool for the design and processing of surveys. It provides facilities for:
There are a number of advantages of using FORMIC as opposed to manually inputting data into either a spreadsheet or database.
First and foremost, FORMIC is extremely quick and efficient, and is capable of scanning approximately 50 forms per minute. Second, the software is very accurate. Indeed, FORMIC utilises a verification process which ensures that, unlike a manual inputting process, errors will be avoided. Thirdly, FORMIC software enables users to download inputted data, into the software package of their choice Excel, Access, SPSS, etc.
If you are regularly involved in undertaking audits or surveys that involve the processing of large amounts of data, please contact the department to see if FORMIC could be used to assist you in your work.
Alternately, if you would like more information on FORMIC, please visit their website on www.formic.co.uk.
In conjunction with the Clinical Governance Managers who work in the Primary Care Trusts, the PCAG are responsible for editing and publishing a clinical governance newsletter for primary care staff. The newsletter is distributed widely across Leicestershire & Rutland and incorporates articles on clinical governance initiatives being undertaken by PCAG, PCTs and primary care staff. The aim of the newsletter is to spread news of best practice across the counties.
As previously mentioned, the work that PCAG undertakes in future will be decided by the PCAG Steering Group, in consultation with Primary Care Trusts.
Clinical Audit is a key component of clinical governance and each PCTs audit programme is reviewed by CHI as part of the clinical governance reviews that they undertake.
CHI expect PCTs to have robust systems for clinical audit in place, and PCAGs future work is likely to link closely with CHIs recommendations for audit. With this in mind, since October 2003 PCAG have employed a Community Audit Facilitator who has supported community-based staff in audit. This post has been a huge success and many community-staff have now been trained in audit and are undertaking audit projects with the assistance of the PCAG facilitator.