Over 100 national audits are undertaken in the NHS each year, with each focusing on a different area of care. The national audits provide clinicians and managers with information about whether or not a hospital is meeting the expected standards of care quality and how the care provided compares with that offered by other hospitals. This can encourage improvement. However, some clinicians and managers find it difficult to make use of national audit information. Dashboards present information as graphs and are thought to make it easier for people to understand information.

We worked with staff from five NHS hospitals. We interviewed staff to gather their ideas about how national audit information is used, the challenges in using this information and how these challenges might be overcome. We learned that the information is mainly used by clinical teams and that the information is more likely to be used where teams have audit support staff who can create graphs of the information. It was also important for the information to be recent and perceived as accurate, and for the reported information to be considered as relevant and meaningful.

We used this information to design a dashboard and develop a plan for its introduction. Staff suggested that ‘champions’, e-bulletins and demonstrations, and quick reference tools were needed.

We introduced the dashboard into five hospitals and evaluated its use over 1 year. Changes were needed so that the graphs presented information in ways that staff were used to and clear labels had to be added so that staff were confident about what information was being displayed. The dashboard was most useful where staff had previously found it difficult to use national audit information. In such situations, our findings provide some evidence to suggest that the dashboard can increase staff members’ use of audit information, reduce time spent in preparation of reports and support improvements in data quality.