OBJECTIVES To investigate the concept of clinical governance being advocated by primary care groups/trusts (PCG/Ts), approaches being used to implement clinical governance, and potential barriers to its successful implementation in primary care. DESIGN Qualitative case studies using semi-structured interviews and documentation review. SETTING Twelve purposively sampled PCG/Ts in England. ...

Clinical governance has been introduced in the UK as a mechanism to improve the quality of health services, and the professional performance of clinicians. Specialist societies have a pivotal role to play in developing systems to support its implementation in clinical practice. Rehabilitation medicine is a specialty characterised by closely integrated interdisciplinary teamwork. The particular ...

Leadership, whether it is nursing, medical or healthcare leadership, is about knowing how to make visions become reality. The vision that many nurses hold dear to their hearts is one where patients are treated with dignity and respect at all times; where systems are designed for the benefit of individual needs; and where the work performed by nurses and other carers is valued and respected. Ach...

AIM To determine the adequacy of initial nurse independent prescribing education and identify continuing professional development and clinical governance strategies in place for non-medical prescribing. BACKGROUND In 2006, new legislation in England enabled nurses with an independent prescribing qualification to prescribe, within their competence. In 2006, non-medical prescribing policies rel...

BACKGROUND This series summarises new empirical research on quality improvement through case studies of the implementation of clinical governance arrangements in two primary care organisations (PCOs). OBJECTIVE To describe a new socio-technical model for effective quality improvement and clinical governance. METHOD The research strategy included a literature review, survey, in-depth intervi...

Clinical Governance Principles in Operational Primary Care. UK Civilian and military peacetime medical care is increasingly addressing the requirement for clinical governance. This has been defined as “A framework through which organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excell...

BACKGROUND There is no clear evidence as to whether the co-location of primary care professionals in the same facility positively influences their way of working and the quality of healthcare as perceived by patients. The aim of this study was to identify the relationships between general practitioner (GP) co-location with other GPs and/or other professionals and the GP outcomes and patients' e...

Clinical governance has been introduced as a new approach to quality improvement in the UK national health service. This article maps clinical governance against a discussion of the four main approaches to measuring and improving quality of care: quality assessment, quality assurance, clinical audit, and quality improvement (including continuous quality improvement). Quality assessment underpin...

Dear Editor, Ravaghi et al. should be congratulated for offering a fascinating insight into the views of senior managers on the implementation of clinical governance (1). Clearly many had experience of challenges in implementation and there were different types of challenges. However, a common theme ran through many of the challenges, and that theme is one of cost. The managers did not mention ...

Clinical governance has been introduced as a new approach to quality improvement in the UK national health service. This article maps clinical governance against a discussion of the four main approaches to measuring and improving quality of care: quality assessment, quality assurance, clinical audit, and quality improvement (including continuous quality improvement). Quality assessment underpin...