An audit of audit performance

Methods: All Emergency General Surgery cases operated upon between 01/08/2013 and 03/10/2013 were categorised as Immediate, Urgent or Expedited, and the time taken to get them to theatre was compared with the target times of 15-minutes, 24-hours and 72-hours respectively.Results: There were 290 patients: all 4 "Immediate" cases were in theatre within 15-minutes; 92% of "Urgent" cases were operated on within 24hours, 7% within 36-hours and the remaining 1% within 48-hours; and 100% of "Expedited" cases were done within 72-hours.Conclusions: Only 8% of Urgent cases were delayed, but delays can prejudice length of stay and clinical outcomes.The diagnoses in the "Urgent" category were varied, so further sub-classification is needed to allow more meaningful analysis of this retrospective data to inform a prospective audit.