King's Fund Organisational Audit: more than ticks in boxes.

This article describes the work of King's Fund Organisational Audit (KFOA), the UK's premier accreditation and standards based organizational development programme. The article sets the context for the work of organizational audit against the recent change to a Labour government, the increased emphasis on patient/user involvement and the move towards evidence-based medicine and the drive towards clinical outcomes. The article makes a brief comparison between the work of KFOA and the Australian Council of Healthcare Standards, and how KFOA is developing its accreditation process in collaboration with other bodies. Some of the many benefits of organizational audit are discussed using case study material.