Clinical Governance is the requirement on all NHS trusts to make sure they deliver high quality healthcare.

Effective Clinical Governance ensures:

• continuous improvement of patient services and care
• a patient centred approach that includes treating patients courteously, involving them in decisions about their care and keeping them informed
• a commitment to quality, which ensures that health professionals are up to date in their practices and properly supervised where necessary
• a reduction of the risk from clinical errors and adverse events as well as a commitment to learn from mistakes and share that learning with others

How this is done

The goal of clinical governance is for all staff to be striving to continuously improve care. A range of structures and processes are used within the Trust to support this including:

• Implementation of National Clinical Guidance which reflects the best standards of care
• Meaningful involvement of patients/public
• Risk Management ( Risk Management Strategy )
• Complaints and suggestions
• Clinical Audit (measuring compliance with best practice)
• Using data to inform improvements
• Training and developing staff
• Providing appropriate environment and equipment to support staff.

The Health Care Commission is responsible for monitoring the quality of care provided at all NHS Trusts. It is introducing an Annual Health Check to review all Trusts performance against National standards.