Clinical governance will have an important part to play in restoring public
confidence in health care delivery through demonstrating quality assurance and
control mechanisms. Patients and their families place trust in health care
professionals and they need to be assured that their treatment is up to date and
clinically and cost effectively applied by staff whose skills have kept pace with
evidence based practice and new techniques. The emphasis must be on processes
that are simple to use and able to demonstrate the production of effective results. It
must be seen as going hand in glove with clinical risk management in terms of
modifying the healthcare providers' behaviour to provide safe, effective and high
quality patient care. Quality and risk are two sides of the same coin and must work
in synergy to provide better patient care. Effective clinical governance and risk
management will make it clear that quality is everybody's business. Clinical gov-
ernance, however, must not be seen as an end in itself; the aim is to end unac-
ceptable variation in practice, but it is more important that clinicians are
accountable and responsible for differences in practice, not simply seeking to
homogenise care.
11.11 Notes and references
- Department of Health 91997)The New NHS Modern Dependable,Cmnd 3807. The
Stationery Office, London. - Department of Health 91998)AFirstClassServiceQualityinthenewNHS.The Stationery
Office, London. - Wilson, J.H. 91996)Integrated Care Management: The Path to Success.Butterworth and
Heinemann, Oxford. - Wilson, J.H. 91992) An Introduction to Multidisciplinary Pathways of Care. Northern
Regional Health Authority, Newcastle Upon Tyne. - Walshe, K. 91998) Cutting to the heart of quality.Health ManagementMay, pp. 20±21.
- NHS Executive 91999)Guidelines for Implementing Controls Assurance in the NHS.
Controls Assurance Team, Quarry House, Leeds. - Wilson, J.H. 91999) The route to clinical governance.Healthcare Risk Report, 5 94)
March.
8.The NHS Plan: A plan for reform.Command Paper 4818. Stationery Office, London.
Clinical Governance 239