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Holding up the mirror: How to use quality assurance, peer review to improve sexual health

Womack, Justine; Kell, Philip; Scally, Gabriel

Authors

Justine Womack

Philip Kell

Gabriel Scally



Abstract

The Office for Sexual Health was established in the southwest of England in January 2010 as a Department of Health pilot to bring together all elements of sexual health policy to address the fragmentation of effort created by having separate national programmes for different elements of sexual health. The Office for Sexual Health established a peer review process to quality assure the commissioning, delivery, evaluation and governance of sexual heath services across the southwest, based on a whole system, partnership approach to improvement that focused on all aspects of sexual health. This was carried out under the auspices of a sexual health services stakeholder Board, chaired by a Primary Care Trust Chief Executive, with a clear focus on providing leadership for continued improvement. The methodology involved local areas undertaking a selfassessment against national standards and providing evidence to underpin this, a review of data and a 1-day peer review visit. Each local area received feedback on the day and a follow-up report with recommendations. An evaluation of the peer review programme was carried out. The programme identified some common issues across local areas, which were addressed at an above local level by the Office for Sexual Health. Evaluation highlighted that the programme was valued by peer reviewers for sharing learning and that local areas had found the feedback constructive and helpful.

Citation

Womack, J., Kell, P., & Scally, G. (2013). Holding up the mirror: How to use quality assurance, peer review to improve sexual health. Sexually Transmitted Infections, 89(8), 616-619. https://doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2012-050864

Journal Article Type Review
Publication Date Dec 1, 2013
Deposit Date Jul 11, 2013
Publicly Available Date Mar 28, 2024
Journal Sexually Transmitted Infections
Print ISSN 1368-4973
Electronic ISSN 1472-3263
Publisher BMJ Publishing Group
Peer Reviewed Peer Reviewed
Volume 89
Issue 8
Pages 616-619
DOI https://doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2012-050864
Keywords mirror, quality assurance, peer review, sexual health
Public URL https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/925804
Publisher URL http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/sextrans-2012-050864
Additional Information Additional Information : Published Online First 11 June 2013


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