Exploring The Role Of Clinical Governance In The NHS

Clinical governance is defined as “A framework through which NHS organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safe-guarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care will flourish.”
Clinical governance incorporates quality assurance, quality improvement and risk and incident management. It also monitors and helps to ensure that the standards of care are maintained and, if necessary, improved. Clinical governance also ensures that the NHS is accountable to the public.
Clinical governance can be split into seven areas. These are:

CLINICAL EFFECTIVENESS & RESEARCH

The aim of clinical effectiveness is to ensure the patient receives the correct treatment
Risk management is about reducing risk to patients through implementation of systems to monitor and/or minimise mistakes and also for medical staff to learn from any mistakes that have happened. It is also important to create an environment that encourages staff to feel safe to admit to any mistakes they may have made and to promote a blame free culture. Risk management also includes implementing systems and procedures to report any significant events and investigate complaints in a constructive manner. Risk management also includes more practical day to day measures by adhering to protocols such as washing hands, maintaining a hygienic clinical environment and identifying patients correctly.

Education and training also forms an important part of clinical governance. This allows staff to become competent at their jobs and keeps their skills and knowledge current through continuous professional development. This can include attending courses or seminars, taking regular assessments and having work reviews which allows staff to talk about any professional concerns or weaknesses they may