What is clinical governance?

A simple definition of clinical governance is the recognition and maintenance of good practice, learning from mistakes and improving quality of services provided to patients.

Clinical governance is also 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.

There is no single task which is clinical governance, but there are a series of processes which build up the picture that is clinical governance. These processes can be used by pharmacists, their managers and employers to help improve and deliver high quality services to patients. The processes are:

• Accountability
• Audit
• Clinical effectiveness
• Continuing professional development
• Patient and public involvement
• Remedying underperformance
• Risk management
• Staff management

Why is this important to you?

• Patient care is central to pharmacy practice and pharmacists providing health services to patients need to maintain high standards and improve the quality of their practice to enable them to provide patients with high quality, safe and effective services.
• Clinical governance is relevant to everyone, particularly to people and organisations providing NHS services to patients within the pharmacy/NHS.

This guidance provides effective signposting for pharmacists to the range of resources available to maintain good practice and make improvements where required.

Click here to view the Clinical Governance quick reference guide »