Social accountability and audit in UK hospitals – an investigation of stakeholder perceptions.

Zhang, Jane

Abstract

Social audit consists of a systematic assessment of the performance of a given organisation in meeting its declared social, community or environmental objectives through a dialogue with stakeholders. Engaging stakeholders in direct dialogue and listening to their voice are the most salient features of social audit. This paper investigates the perceptions among hospital stakeholders of their involvement in social audit with a view to understanding how the latter could be used to improve the quality of patient care. The research attempts to:

assess how stakeholders view the importance of their involvement in a variety of decisions about activities such as 'monitoring patient waiting times', 'implementing the patients' charter' or 'evaluating hospital performance'
investigate stakeholders' views on methods of involvement in social audit applicable to NHS hospitals, including focus groups, questionnaire surveys, and interviews
explore their views on methods of disclosing social accountability information, including hospital league tables and NHS audit reports.

Citation

Zhang, J. (2007). Social accountability and audit in UK hospitals – an investigation of stakeholder perceptions. Journal of finance & management in public services, 6, (57-78). ISSN 1475-1283

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2007
• Deposit Date: May 26, 2008
• Print ISSN: 1475-1283
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 6
• Pages: 57-78
• Keywords: social audit; accountability; performance; objectives; stakeholders; patient care; league tables; audit reports; UK; Hospitals
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/id/eprint/2077