Clinical performance assessment

Below you will find details about our clinical performance assessment – its purpose, how it is carried out and how long it takes to complete. The Covid-19 pandemic has had an impact on the delivery of these on-site assessments. If we offer one of these assessments then we will work with the parties involved to assess the feasibility of the assessment and the best method of delivery, taking into account the specific circumstances of the case.

We understand that healthcare organisations may still need help with assessing aspects of a practitioner’s clinical performance so we have developed a Local Assessment of Clinical Performance to facilitate and support NHS organisations in undertaking clinical performance assessments locally during this period.

To find out more about a Local Assessment of Clinical Performance click here.

The purpose of this assessment is to:

provide an independent view on the clinical performance of the practitioner, identifying both satisfactory practice and any areas of poor practice.
provide information to assist the referring organisation in decisions about the next steps in their management of the case.

The assessment is carried out through a clinical assessment visit by a trained team of assessors, supported by an Assessment and Remediation Manager. It includes:

Clinical record review: of a sample of patient records.
Direct observation of practice: the practitioner’s normal clinical work.
Case-based assessment: exploring clinical reasoning and decision-making about the practitioner’s own cases.

The assessors will have relevant clinical experience in the practitioner’s specialty, be familiar with the standards relating to that specialty and be able to apply them to assess the performance of a peer. Our assessments are underpinned by a range of quality assurance mechanisms to ensure that we continue to provide an expert and high quality service. The result is a comprehensive report with fair, robust and evidence-based findings and conclusions in respect of the individual’s practice, which provide the basis for a clear way forward to bring the case towards a resolution.

It takes around 18 weeks to complete a clinical performance assessment – from the time we offer the assessment to the issue of the assessment report. This can vary depending on the clinical specialty of the practitioner and the individual circumstances of the case but we always aim to deliver assessments as quickly as we can.

Insights

Our Insights publications share analysis and research which draw on our in-depth experience providing expert, impartial advice and interventions to healthcare organisations to effectively manage and resolve concerns raised about the practice of individual healthcare practitioners.

Our clinical performance assessment Insight presents the findings of 102 clinical performance assessments undertaken from April 2013 to March 2020, to share important insights from this core area of our work.