HQIP commissions British Society for Rheumatology to deliver three-year arthritis audit

Published: 09 Aug 2017

HQIP is delighted to to announce that the contract for the National Rheumatoid and Early Inflammatory Arthritis Audit has been awarded to the British Society of Rheumatology (BSR). 

The 3-year audit is commissioned by HQIP as part of the National Clinical Audit and Patient Outcomes Programme (NCAPOP). It will assess the care provided by rheumatology services in England and Wales and the health outcomes this achieves for people living with inflammatory arthritis conditions, including rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and axial spondyloarthritis. The performance of services will be assessed against NICE quality standards, measuring key items such as referral times from primary care, waiting time for specialised rheumatology care, time to treatment, access to education and self-management, and the outcome of care including disease remission.

Building on the previous audit that ran between 2014 and 2016, the new audit will provide more focused and precise data, helping reduce the burden on clinical teams, and will use an improved IT platform to streamline data collection and real-time feedback to support local quality improvement. To deliver this, BSR will partner with Kings College  who will provide statistical and epidemiological support and Netsolving plus IT platform development.

‘‘We are in a unique position as a rheumatology community to work with our members, maximise engagement with the national clinical audit, and embed a quality improvement culture that reduces variation and improves outcomes in every musculoskeletal service provider. Empowering our members with evidence of the impact and value of the care that they provide is a key part of our new strategy, and provides us with an invaluable opportunity to make a significant difference to the lives of almost a million people living with inflammatory arthritis in England and Wales.”

“Over the next few months, we will work on developing and testing the data collection tools and processes, with a view to launching data collection for the national clinical audit from April 2018.”