NHS England has published a new Clinical Audit and Registries – Best Practice Guide (January 2026), reinforcing the role of clinical audit as a core quality improvement activity across the NHS.
Clinical audit and registries are long-established tools used to monitor adherence to clinical standards, benchmark performance and identify where services are doing well and where improvement is needed. The updated guidance sets out national expectations for how audits and registries should be conducted, governed and used to support learning and improvement.
The Best Practice Guide sets out national objectives to standardise how clinical audits and registries are delivered, strengthen the quality and use of data, support collaboration across the system, and ensure audit activity leads to meaningful improvement in patient care and outcomes.
The objectives of the guidance are to:
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establish a standardised approach for conducting clinical audits, managing registries and identifying outliers to ensure data is consistent and comparable
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ensure data collected through clinical audits and registries is accurate, reliable and valid, and used for continuous improvement in the quality of patient care and outcomes
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facilitate collaboration between clinicians, researchers and policymakers to maximise the value and impact of clinical audit and registry data on healthcare policy and practice
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align with the latest NHS digital developments to enhance effectiveness and reduce burden
“A clinical audit is one of the main types of quality improvement activities. It is a way to determine if healthcare is being provided in line with standards. It helps care providers, commissioners and patients understand where services are doing well and where improvements are needed in line with evidence-based standards.”
Clinical Audit and Registries – Best Practice Guide, NHS England, January 2026
The guidance also highlights the importance of supporting the clinical workforce to engage in audit and quality improvement activity, including protecting time for training and participation.
“Healthcare providers need to support appropriate training of the clinical workforce (for example, doctors, nurses, AHPs) and health scientists, both by protecting time for staff to undertake training and giving them opportunities to participate in audit and QI.”
Clinical Audit and Registries – Best Practice Guide, NHS England, January 2026
The Best Practice Guide aims to establish a more standardised and consistent approach to clinical audit and registries, improve data quality and reliability, support collaboration between clinicians, researchers and policymakers, and align audit activity with the latest NHS digital developments.
To learn more about the guidance, click here.
Clinical Audit Improvement Summit
Virtual Conference
The Clinical Audit Summit 2026 brings together healthcare professionals working within the NHS and private healthcare to celebrate the importance of clinical audit and the invaluable role it plays in terms of improving patient care and safety. The conference will be of interest to anyone with a remit for clinical audit effectiveness and quality improvement.
This conference will update you on the NHS England Clinical Audit and Registries Best Practice Guide released in January 2026.
