Handover episodes reviewed
60
Sample data
Overall compliance
78%
Target 90%
Outstanding tasks documented
89.5%
Criterion 16
Clear enough to continue care
74.6%
Criterion 26
Aim
To assess whether clinical handovers are structured, complete, risk-aware, action-focused and documented clearly enough to support safe continuity of care across shifts, teams and clinical areas.
Standards
GMC Good medical practice (continuity and coordination of care) · NICE NG27 · NICE QS136 · Local clinical handover policy — target ≥ 90% for each criterion
Sample
Target sample 60 handover episodes across participating wards, departments, specialties and services. Pseudonymised audit identifiers only — no direct patient identifiers.
Tool workflow
Step 1
Project setup
Confirm scope, wards, departments, specialties, services, leads and audit cycle.
Step 2
Team
Add supervisors, contributors, data collectors and governance reviewers.
Step 3
Inclusion / exclusion
Review who is in scope and the 27 audit criteria.
Step 4
Data collection
Structured form for each handover episode.
Step 5
Dashboard
Compliance, variation, trends and improvement opportunities.
Step 6
Findings
Interpret results, good practice, gaps and safety themes.
Step 7
Improvement
Actions, PDSA cycles, sustainability and re-audit.
Step 8
Resources
GMC, NICE NG27, QS136 and local handover policy references.
Step 9
Export centre
Editable Word, PowerPoint, Excel and ARCP outputs.
Add a handover episode
Open the structured data collection form.
Plan improvement
PDSA cycles, actions and re-audit plan.
Generate outputs
Word, PowerPoint, Excel and ARCP evidence.
Clinical safety note
This tool supports local audit, quality improvement and governance review. It does not replace clinical judgement, local handover policy, professional standards, escalation pathways, communication policy, information governance requirements, emergency response processes, critical care outreach criteria, sepsis pathways, safeguarding procedures or incident reporting. Any immediate clinical deterioration, missed escalation, unsafe handover, unresolved urgent task, safeguarding concern or patient safety concern must be escalated according to local policy. Do not enter patient names, NHS numbers, hospital numbers, full dates of birth, addresses or other direct identifiers.