The value of visits to non‐involved and single‐handed practices from a primary care audit group

Two series of visits to practices in a district in north west England were undertaken to encourage significant event review. The first was to non‐participants in audit projects who discussed lumbar‐sacral spine X‐rays and deaths with the GP facilitator. The second was to single‐handed GPs who discussed new diagnoses. Levels of participation and completion were high and there was a significant fall in the number of X‐rays requested compared with neighbouring controls. This method of influencing professional performance is compared with others. An evaluation questionnaire suggested that the method was acceptable and useful. It is suggested that academic detailing/practice visiting has a vital place in developing clinical governance in primary care, especially in recruiting those who have seldom been involved in audit activities in the past.