ABSTRACT
Benchmarking is an invaluable means of enhancing understanding of service's performance achieved through making comparisons with other organisations. It demonstrates how one's service is performing in relation to similar allied health professions (AHP) services and also indicates whether the full potential of the workforce and other resources is being fully realised. Benchmarking is often used as part of service review and for quality improvement initiatives. The technique is a widely used management 'tool' which had its origins in manufacturing industry and is now used in public services including healthcare. This chapter describes the AHP benchmarking tool, which can be used by managers to help set standards and monitor whether or not these are being met in terms of workforce, resources, activity, availability, access. Benchmarking 'tool' is designed to be objective and a straightforward process which can either be used to review your own service in isolation, or to make comparisons with aspects of other services.
