n 2003 NHS Estates launched the Primary Care Audit Matrix (PAM) to facilitate the auditing of decontamination practices in primary and community care. This article evaluates PAM following the author's experiences of using it within general medical services. PAM is a valuable tool within the clinical governance framework and provides organisations with information that is useful for both National Standards and contract monitoring purposes. However, PAM is also complex and time-consuming to use. This is the the author's personal (but balanced) view of a winter spent auditing GP practices with PAM.
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