The use of the term "monitoring" in the health service or management context was usually taken to imply the development and establishment of certain standards of performance in a particular field, and a system to examine whether or not those standards had been met. The identification of adequate and realistic criteria against which to measure performance in health care was extremely difficult, but attempts were being made in a number of areas. The conference focussed on four projects:- Wessex Regional Monitoring Exercise; monitoring standards of clinical performance; nursing management audit; planning agreements with clinical teams (P.A.C.T.S.)