Internal Audit Process and Implementation

This assignment delves into the comprehensive internal audit process, examining its various stages from planning and execution to reporting and follow-up. It emphasizes the significance of internal audits in enhancing organizational effectiveness, identifying risks, and ensuring compliance. The assignment includes an analysis of relevant academic literature, case studies, and real-world examples to illustrate the practical application of internal auditing principles and techniques.

Developing Specialist Practice in Health
and Social Care
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ...............................................................................................................................4
Critical evaluation of the clinical audit............................................................................................4
Advantages and Limitations of the clinical audit............................................................................5
Potential influence of clinical audit on patient care.........................................................................5
Aims and Objectives of the clinical audit........................................................................................6
Standards for clinical audit..............................................................................................................6
Audit cycle.......................................................................................................................................7
Critical discussion for need to involve in the audit design and collection of data..........................8
Critical predication for planning to collect data..............................................................................8
Critical evaluation of the planning for comparing performance with the decided standards..........8
Critical evaluation for identifying the results of this audit. ............................................................9
CONCLUSION....................................................................................................................................9
References..........................................................................................................................................10
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INTRODUCTION
Health care organisations are responsible for offering quality services and treatments to the
patients. The policies and procedures followed by social care firms also need to be properly formed
and executed into the working environment. All these factors help service users in their effective
treatment and fast recovery (van Leersum and et.al., 2013).
The purpose of the present study is to conduct clinical audit in the health-care organisation
for identifying its quality of services with respect to the disease of the service users. Various audits
have been conducted by the organisation for improving its working and services. As a specialist I
like to conduct audit on the regular basis for providing proper and effective services to the patients.
This helps in increasing their satisfaction level which leads to fast recovery.
For the present report, Care UK, a health care organisation is taken into consideration. The
file includes clinical audit with proper strategies to improve the patient outcome. Along with this, it
consists of applications of strategic thinking for enhancing the development by including local and
organisational factors.
Critical evaluation of the clinical audit
Being a specialist in the healthcare area of Care UK, I like to conduct clinical audit within
the working environment of this specific area. The reason behind selection of this particular area is
to check the quality and performance of the healthcare organisation with respect to the patients and
their proper treatment. With the help of this audit, Care UK will be able to identify loopholes in its
services (Desai, Gerard and Tripathy, 2011).
Literature:
According to Leong, Wilkie and Webb, 2012, “Clinical audit is a quality improvement
process which seeks to improve and enhance the care as well as outcomes of the service users by
properly reviewing the care” (Leong, Wilkie and Webb, 2012). This will help Care UK in
determining its quality as per the decided quality standards which will help health-care firm in
improving its services and making them more effective. On the other hand, Armellino and et.al.,
2012 have stated that “The six pillars of the clinical governance lead to audit quality and
performance properly. These pillars are clinical effectiveness, research and development, openness,
risk management, education and training and clinical audit” (Armellino and et.al., 2012). Along
with this, according to Hamer and Collinson, 2014, “Clinical audit should include the assessment
of: structure of care, process of care and outcome of the care. This results to provide effective
strategies to the healthcare organisation for improving its quality and standard of services” (Hamer
and Collinson, 2014). With reference to these statements, Care UK will be able to evaluate and
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review its performance and quality of services. This review will help social care firm in identifying
if there is any need of change or improvement.
Research Gap:
Various researches are conducted the clinical audit but there is no investigation with respect
to Care UK. This study will help in bridging the gap between the researches regarding clinical audit
(Kotb and Roberts, 2011).
Advantages and Limitations of the clinical audit
With the help of clinical audit in the service area of healthcare, Care UK will be able to
provide more appropriate and high quality services to the patients. This will help in enhancing the
satisfaction level of the service users by meeting their demands, desires and expectations.
Advantages and Limitations of Clinical Audit:
With the help of clinical audit, Care UK will be able to improve its quality of treatments,
medications and other services. This will lead to enhance recovery of the patients. In contrast to it,
for proper audit, it is essential for the social care firm to pay proper and careful attention to the
professional attitudes otherwise it can affect the outcome (Accorsi, 2011). On the other hand,
clinical audit will help healthcare organisation in determining its weaknesses or loopholes which are
providing dissatisfaction to the patients. By delivering high quality services, Care UK will gain
competitive advantage in the market. Along with this, it will improve brand image and market
position of the firm. But before conducting clinical audit and taking profit of all these advantages, it
is necessary for Care UK to use coherent strategy. Otherwise, there are chances of losing valuable
opportunities and effectiveness of audits (Care UK, 2016).
Potential influence of clinical audit on patient care
Clinical audit is necessary for the healthcare area of Care UK for identifying health, safety
and security of the patients. Proper suggestions of the clinical audit will help in enhancing the
quality of services which will lead to improve the health, safety and security factor of the healthcare
field. With the help of clinical audit, Care UK will continue to place a high focus on compassionate
care, improve its timeliness and efficacy of care with the help of careful planning, monitoring the
services on the regular basis for ensuring its effectiveness. By this, it will be able to provide e-
learning for all the staff members for improving their leadership skills. All these improvements will
directly impact positively on the health and safety of the service users (Holm and Zaman, 2012).
On the other hand, local policies will be used by the auditors for conducting the clinical
audit with reference to the improvement in the quality of services and treatments. There are various
standards set by UK government in the local policies which will help in identifying whether the
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standard of services is according to them or not. If not, then how Care UK can improve it for
accomplishing the standards with respect to the local policies (Nyamtema and et.al., 2011).
Aim and Objectives of the clinical audit
It is necessary for Care UK to define aim and objectives before conducting clinical audit
within its working environment. These are as follows:
Aim: To conduct an audit for developing Specialist Practice in Health and Social Care.
Objectives:
 To understand the auditing process of health and social care setting.
 To determine the role of audit in analysing existing specialist Practice in Health and Social
Care.
 To critically analyse the impact of auditing on patients and health and social care setting.
 To suggest appropriate practices for improving auditing process and practices in health and
social care.
Importance of the setting aims and objectives
It is important to set aim and objectives before conducting audit within the working
environment of the health care organisation. It is essential to clear the vision and goals before
implementing the strategies. It helps in taking appropriate decisions for achieving objectives of the
audit. Care UK can be able to identify whether it has achieved the objectives of audit or not. If not,
then what are the reasons behind it (Haley and et.al., 2012).
Influence of aim and objectives on audit process:
The aim and objectives of the audit will help in making the clinical audit specific instead of
general. This will provide healthcare firm a direction in which it can improve the services for
enhancing the patient care. Along with this, Care UK will be able to take appropriate actions for
achieving the objectives and improving its specialists practices (Zhu and et.al., 2011).
Standards for clinical audit
Audit standards are more specific than the objectives. These are quantifiable statements
informing about the particular aspects of the patient care which a healthcare organisation intents to
measure against the current practices. It leads to ensure social care firms that the best possible care
is delivered to their service users. Some organisations select the standards available in the form of
guidelines or protocols like national guidelines, local guidelines, etc. But it is necessary to keep in
mind that the chosen guidelines should be effective and helpful for health-care in achieving its aim
and objectives. On the other hand, some social care firms undertake literature for identifying the
best practice and develop the standard accordingly (Cohen and et.al., 2013).
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Standards for the clinical audit of Care UK are as follows:
Audit Criteria Target Source of evidence
Auditing process will be
followed properly for
collecting appropriate and
relevant information.
100.00% Care UK policy- clinical guidance
on the management of specialist
practices.
Important and effective role
will be played by the auditing
in analysing existing
specialist practice in Health
and Social Care.
100.00% Care UK policy- on the
management of auditing practices.
There will be positive impact
of auditing on patients and
health and social care setting.
100.00% Clinical guidance on the
management of auditing and
specialists practices.
Audit cycle
The audit cycle which will be followed by Care UK is as follows: Preparing for audit: In this, Care UK will identify the problem which it is facing and wants
to improve. After this, it will arrange the local resources with the funds as per the
requirement of the issue. Healthcare professionals of the social care firm will contact their
local audit lead if they have, for conducting audit and doing appropriate measures
(Hargreaves, 2011). Selecting criteria for audit review: In this stage, Care UK will choose an appropriate
criteria for conducting the audit effectively. Social care organisation will have to develop
proper standards for measuring the specialist practices against them (Lessambo, 2014). Measuring level of performance: Performance with respect to the specialist practices will
be measured by Care UK. It will determine whether the practices are matching with the
standards or not (Audit and Audit cycle, 2016).
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Illustration 1: Audit Format
Source (How to: set an audit aim, objectives and standards, 2009)

 Making Improvements: In this step, Care UK will work for making appropriate
improvements in the area of specialist practices. Higher authorities of the social care firm
will take appropriate decisions for improving the practices and providing high quality
services to the patients (Soh and Martinov-Bennie, 2011).
 Sustaining Improvements: In this, healthcare organisation will try to sustain the
improvements by conducting the audit in particular interval of time. This will result to
achieve objectives of the audit in a proper manner (Lin and et.al., 2011).
Critical discussion for need to involve in the audit design and collection of data
As a specialist in the healthcare area, I will like to involve audit lead for designing the
process of audit and collecting relevant data. Along with this, I will also involve higher authorities
of Care UK for their supervision and guidance. On the other hand, I will try to include only skilled
and talented authorities who can help me to achieve objectives of the audit and suggest me right
strategies for resolving the issues. Lead audit will help in selecting right strategies and approaches
for completing the audit regarding specialist practices. His/her guidance will lead to conduct each
and every activity in an appropriate manner and in decided time frame. In contrast to it, reason
behind involving higher authorities is to take their permission for conducting audit. In addition, I
will also include my subordinates for providing them information about the audit and making them
skilled for it.
Critical predication for planning to collect data
For collecting the information with respect to the audit, I will use various sources. I will read
journals, articles, books, etc. for identifying the best practices and understanding the concept of
audit. This will help me in conducting audit in an effective and efficient manner. Along with this, I
will gather information from previously conducted audits. The reports on the past audits will
provide me information related to the issue, strategies used for resolving them, time period for
completing, reviews against the standards, effective measures taken by the health-care organisation
for making appropriate changes and many more. In contrast to it, I will collect data by filling
questionnaire from the patients. This will lead to aware me about the opinion of the service users
towards the problem and how they are handling it.
Critical evaluation of the planning for comparing performance with the decided standards
After collecting all the information, I will compare the obtained data with the decided
standards. I will compare it in an appropriate way by giving attention to each and every aspect
carefully. Any mistake or carelessness can lead to affect the overall result of the audit. Along with
this, I will use appropriate tool for comparing the information. This will help me in getting
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outcomes in an appropriate way. Along with this, use of proper tool or software will also help in
preventing the wastage of money, resources and time.
Critical evaluation for identifying the results of this audit
After the comparison, I will get the results with respect to the specialist practices. For
improving quality of the practices and making them as per the set standards, I will select
appropriate strategies. I will provide training to the staff for making them expert and specialised in
their field. Time to time training will also help them in updating their skills, knowledge and abilities
with respect to the market trends and requirements. On the other hand, I will implement new
equipment, instruments and machines for improving the quality of treatments. This will help me in
providing appropriate results regarding the health issue of the patients. Along with this, I will
improve the services of Care UK for providing safe and healthy environment to the service users.
All these actions will result to improve the specialist practices of Care UK.
On the other hand, I will face various challenges while implementing the above decided
actions. The challenges can be related to deadline, limitation of resources, inappropriate fund,
improper allocation and utilisation of the resources etc. It is essential to take proper decisions for
handling all these challenges and implementing the changes.
CONCLUSION
From the above study, it is concluded that audit plays an essential role in improving the
services and treatments of the healthcare organisation. Care UK can improve its specialised
practices by comparing current practices with the decided standards. On the other hand, it is
important to plan properly otherwise any error or problem can affect the overall process of auditing.
By handling challenges in an effective way, social care firm can implement the changes for
improving its specialist practices.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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Desai, N. K., Gerard, G. J. and Tripathy, A., 2011. Internal audit sourcing arrangements and reliance
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weaknesses. The Accounting Review. 86(1). pp.287-323.
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Online
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audit-cycle>. [Accessed on 7th May 2016]
Care UK. 2016. [Online]. Available Through: <www.careuk.com>. [Accessed on 7th May 2016]
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<http://www.uhbristol.nhs.uk/files/nhs-ubht/4%20How%20to%20Aim%20Objectives
%20and%20Standards%20v3.pdf>. [Accessed on 7th May 2016]
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