Enhanced Service Scheme
We’ve just received notification of this year’s Minor Surgery Enhanced Service Scheme to sign up to by the end of April. Part of the specification requires us to audit the minor surgery service we provide in order to measure the quality and quantity of community-based surgery.
Audit
Every form of minor surgery should be audited to analyse the results, any complications and diagnostic accuracy. Diagnostic accuracy is important for those providing any form of community-based skin cancer surgery, but practices offering more of a ‘lumps and bumps’ surgery should also audit their service. Audits should be undertaken regularly and used to evidence a doctor’s standards and competence to perform their enhanced service role. All GPs must complete two audits for their revalidation anyway, which can often also be used as supporting evidence for a CQC inspection.
Clinical audit cycle
Clinical audit is a cycle of events that helps to ensure patients receive the right care and the right treatment. This is done by measuring the care and services provided against evidence base standards, changes are implemented to narrow the gap between existing practice and what is known to be best practice. Clinical audit should be a continuous cycle that is constantly measured with improvements made after each cycle. Best practice is to compare individual results to national results and to compare quality over time.
Evidence of high standards
The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has collaborated with the Health & Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) to develop a free Community-Based Surgery Audit (CBSA), which will provide evidence of the highest standard to the CQC. Dr Jonathan Botting, clinical lead for minor surgery at the RCGP, has developed, with the HSCIC, the audit tool which will help GP practices to demonstrate outstanding practice in minor surgery. The link to the audit tool is available below.
The results of the audit will provide evidence about the service provided, and enable doctors to demonstrate their necessary skills for revalidation, meeting the requirements that they are fit to provide a minor surgery service in the community.
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