ABSTRACT
Quality and audit are increasingly important in healthcare provision and this chapter aims to give the practitioner knowledge and tools to monitor the clinical and service delivery business aspects of occupational health (OH). The purpose of the chapter is to outline the differences between 'quality' and 'audit', how they interrelate and their significance in the OH context. There are a number of specific books and courses devoted to the subject and differing methods of ensuring quality by general and specialist audit tools. The chapter gives the reader tools to understand and assess existing audit provision for effectiveness and to signpost them to further information and resources to use to establish or adapt for their own specific requirements. In contemporary occupational settings, along with recent political drivers following the Black report, the impetus for quality audits has been from managing costs whilst improving standards and meeting statutory and regulatory standards.
