AUDIT
What is a DESMOND AUDIT?
An audit is a review of all of the DESMOND activities that have been provided over a certain period of time.
Why Audit?
Auditing helps us to identify trends and differences from our Sites providing DESMOND. We can use quarterly figures to see how DESMOND is doing across the nation; what is working in one Site, what is not in another so we can support and implement changes to help DESMOND grow and provide the best self-management diabetes education for the diabetes population. Auditing is also a key criteria of the national standards for diabetes structured education programmes.
Benefits of Auditing at DESMOND
There are many benefits of auditing, especially for us at DESMOND.
The diabetes population is ever growing so we need to make sure that we are able to provide the best education possible for our patients and our monthly audit figures will help showcase that the number of our DESMOND Sites are growing and Commissioners believe in the DESMOND approach of diabetes education.
At Local and National levels, Sites can see how they are performing and overall we can get a bigger picture of how DESMOND is doing across the nation. We can then make any changes or improvements to existing controls and practices and remain a top competitor for diabetes education.
Doing what we say we will do. Facts and figures will put confidence in our existing and upcoming Sites, patients and Commissioners that we are delivering DESMOND and we are performing well or better than expected. This will show that we are credible and help our reputation to grow even more.
As we are getting new Sites signing up, we can look at audits to plan better financially for the future and create a more realistic budget for the upcoming year.
Figures from audits can help with future commissioning and bringing in new business
Patient outcomes; see how our patients are doing before attending DESMOND, what impact DESMOND has had after attending DESMOND.
Making sure we are compliant with statutory and mandatory obligations such as GDPR, Information Governance regulations.
Checking data and identifying changes we have had to make as a result of Covid-19.
What Audits do DESMOND carry out?
In this article you will learn about the Site Audit that we carry out here at the DESMOND National Office and this helps provide a detailed picture of the current DESMOND landscape:
Site Audit
The Site Audit is an audit of each site’s figures and data, which is collected on a quarterly basis. This is part of a DESMOND Licensee’s contractual obligation. This is to see how sites are doing on a variety of factors such as number of Educators, support, what they are offering, number of referrals, number attending sessions, number registered on MyDESMOND, number declined after referral, number DNA'd to group, number on waiting list, if the site collects patient feedback, biomedical data and if there is anything they would like to let us know at DESMOND Head Office. This can change as and when required, depending on what data we need to collect. When this is sent back to DESMOND, we collate the data.
We collect this information by completion of a simple Excel spreadsheet sent back in via email.
Please note that if your coordinator leaves the organisation, we will need to be notified with contact details for your new Coordinator so we can update this on our databases and include them in our mailing lists to take part in the Site Audit.
If you have submitted a quarterly return and you need it amended, contact the Audit Coordinator, Shabina Khatun via email on DesmondNationalProgramme@uhl-tr.nhs.uk or on 0116 258 8989.
We have used and will use the information provided in a manner that conforms to the General Data Protection Regulation and which is supported by the Data Protection Act 2018. We will endeavour to ensure information is accurate and up to date, and that it is kept for no longer than is necessary.
All data collected has been entered and stored on secure servers. Anonymised reports will be created from the data to better understand the impact of DESMOND and inform future service delivery. These anonymised reports may be shared through publication in relevant health or medical journals and/or with NHS England and local providers of the DESMOND programme. This is to ensure that NHS England and local healthcare providers can evaluate and plan the best way to provide care for people with Type 2 diabetes as part of service evaluation.
To conclude, the Site Audit consists of a quarterly submission by the Site to the DESMOND National Office, via a quarterly email to each Site to provide the key figures and data.
If you want to book some time in with us to discuss the above, if you need further guidance or have any questions feel free to contact us here at the National DESMOND Office via email at DesmondNationalProgramme@uhl-tr.nhs.uk
How to get involved
The Audit Coordinator will be in touch on a quarterly basis for the Site Audit, which will include any new Sites that come onboard with DESMOND. We will need the following information;
A name of your Coordinator to liaise with
Your coordinator’s email address
We are looking to create a new virtual National Patient Audit. Keep a lookout on this page for updates.
Questions?
We hope that you will support us in this work and if you have any further questions about this, please contact us by email at DesmondNationalProgramme@uhl-tr.nhs.uk