While an institution (hospital) encourages the clinical independence of accredited health professionals and acknowledges the accountability that accompanies this independence, it also has a vital interest in the standard of health care practised, as this determines the quality of care received by patients and ultimately its reputation.
While health care operators (hospitals) often don’t see themselves monitoring standards of independent medical practice, they would acknowledge that various stakeholders including patients have an intense interest in these standards being monitored and where necessary improved.
Therefore, an increasing number of hospitals and health care operators look into self-audit by its accredited specialists, conducted confidentially and at arm’s length from the institution itself to achieve this crucially important end.