The British Association of Dermatologists audit of atopic eczema management in secondary care. Phase 2: audit of service process

An audit of atopic eczema management, conducted on behalf of the British Association of Dermatologists, examined service structure (phase 1), process (phase 2) and outcome (phase 3). In phase 2, an on-site case-note audit was conducted in 19 hospital dermatology departments randomly selected from the original sample of 187 centres across the U.K(. In total, 630 sets of notes were examined for completeness of: (i) information given to general practitioners (GPs) in clinic letters and (ii) facts relevant to the management of atopic eczema recorded in the patients' notes. In general, the information given to GPs in the clinic letters was good, with the recording of diagnosis, treatment and follow-up approaching the 100% working standard. Factual information such as site and severity of eczema (83% and 74%), and presence or absence of asthma (53%) were better recorded than quality of life issues such as sleep loss secondary to itching (21%) and effect on school, work or social life (6%). On average, only 51% of all audit measures were recorded across all centres, with slight variation between centres (41-61%). The centre with the best recording had a purpose-designed data sheet for doctors to complete when seeing new patients with atopic eczema, Such data sheets may help improve case-note recording. Similar data sheets for patients to complete may be more time-efficient.