CLINICAL GOVERNANCE

Everyone has a responsibility under Clinical Governance because for the first time in the history of the NHS it is a statutory obligation for NHS organisations to account for the quality of their services. (The Health Act 1999)

The Department of Health says that Clinical Governance is:  “A framework through which NHS organisations are accountable for continually improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care will flourish”

For further information see: Policy number PP[02]106 - Strategy for Clinical Governance

But what does that mean?

A Framework: Joining up all the different health organisations, the Government and national guidance to create an NHS working together for the good of the patient.

NHS Organisations: This means us as an acute Trust and also community health, mental health and primary care trusts (PCT) as well as our partners in social services and the wider care environment.

Accountable:  The Commission for health improvement (CHI) is a statutory body which has been set up by the government to provide national leadership for governance principles and to undertake service reviews of all trusts to monitor governance arrangements.

Continually improving: All staff need to ensure they are up to date with training.  Fire safety is just as important as infection control for the Trust to run efficiently and safely.  Audit is a formal tool to assess practice and support is available (see documentation and contact list).

Quality: To improve on quality, standards are set and we measure and audit our performance against those standards e.g National Standard Frameworks.

The National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) is another statutory body which produces guidance on best practice.

Environment Governance is about you as a colleague, not just patients.  A safe working environment where hazards and risks are reduced to as low a level as possible.  The incident reporting system ensures hazards can be flagged up and removed.

“Excellence in clinical care will flourish”

But its not just doctors and nurses! The hospital works best when the different staff groups work as a team.   Everyone has a role to play to ensure the patient’s journey through the hospital is as comfortable and safe as possible.  Safe for patients and safe for staff.