The National Office of Clinical Audit (NOCA) hosted its inaugural conference at RCSI today, Monday, 18 May 2015.

Through collaboration of RCSI and the HSE Quality Improvement Division, NOCA was established in 2012 with the specific purpose to create sustainable structures to develop and support clinical audit nationally.

Opening the Conference, ‘Managing what we measure’ Dr Philip Crowley, Director of HSE Quality Improvement Division, main sponsor of NOCA and member of the NOCA Governance Board, noted that despite the challenges and road blocks along the way, since its May 2012 launch, NOCA have worked steadily to overcome many obstacles and are now firmly positioned as credible enablers for quality improvement.

Dr Crowley spoke to the importance of the NOCA Team having established strong alliances with international leaders in quality improvement. In particular, he welcomed Professor Danny Keenan, Medical Director of Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership, Professor Fiona Lecky, Trauma Audit and Research Network UK and Professor Simon Jones, University of Surrey all who travelled to share their international experience of clinical audit and quality improvement. NOCA has and will continue to look to international expertise for evidenced based methodologies and systems of clinical audit.

Dr Crowley spoke to the importance of robust clinical audit and review when actual or perceived harm is identified, he stressed the importance of continual review and audit in the proactive, systematic structures that NOCA have established. He noted hospitals and clinicians wanting to improve outcomes for patients and their own practice was not a new concept, what was new to the Irish health sector was ensuring audit findings are shared locally and nationally with a health service and its decision makers willing to take recommendations and action.

Mr Ken Mealy, Clinical Director to the NOCA Executive Team opened the first session which outlined the journey NOCA has taken over the last three years. He noted that despite the progress NOCA have made, challenges requiring national policy still remain. In particular due to the absence of the Health Information Bill, NOCA’s first audit stream identified and developed in 2012, the Irish Audit of Surgical Mortality remains dormant.

Professor Sean Tierney, Chair of the NOCA Governance Board, closed the day by acknowledging the effort of all involved nationally and within hospitals to truly participate in full audit. He noted turning clinical information into quality data took considerable time, patience and if done correctly, the audit cycle is never complete. He highlighted the service requirement to commit adequate resources to maintain quality data collection. He hoped from the day, all appreciated that clinical audit should be an iterative process from which over time learning can be achieved and measured.