Table 1.

Audit standards assessed by the first National Pain Audit.

	Standard	Indicator type	Justification	Reference
1	Type of clinic (IASP definition)	Structure	Evidence for multidisciplinary care	International Association for the Study of Pain guidance1
2	Waiting times	Outcome	Key performance indicator nationally Evidence for waiting times impact on health	18-week referral to treatment times (Baseline Audit) IASP waiting time standard2 (Follow-up)
3	Multidisciplinary staffing	Structure	Internationally recognised standard for pain services	IASP treatment facilities guidance1
4	Availability of pain services per head of population	Structure	Key concern worldwide	Systematic review recommendations4
5	Treatments available at pain services	Structure	Availability of evidence-based multidisciplinary care, back-up facilities and wider specialist support to the community	British Pain Society Map of Medicine treatment pathways19
6	Attributes of pain treatment facilities	Structure	Multidisciplinary care check that personnel match the definition	Systematic review recommendations4
7	100% patients diagnoses assigned an ICD-10 code	Outcome	Diagnosis determines treatment pathway	NHS Information Standards
8	100% of clinics had protocols in place to manage high risk areas of practice	Process	Standard requirement of NHS providers	National Patient Safety Agency26
9	Education Programme	Structure	As a specialist service, should be providing best practice on managing pain to non-specialists	IASP treatment facilities guidance2

IASP: International Association for the Study of Pain; ICD-10: International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision; NHS: National Health Services.