Clinical Service

Clinical Governance is the system through which hospitals are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care, by creating an environment in which clinical excellence can flourish. It is essentially a quality control system that helps hospitals monitor the quality of care they deliver.

Clinical Governance ensures safe, high quality care from all involved in the patient's journey and patients are the main focus and priority. It recognizes the importance of both multidisciplinary teams and the involvement of patients in developing effective hospital care systems.

The hospital should establish a clinical governance unit which will be reporting to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) through the Clinical Governance Unit Head of the hospital. This unit should be led by a senior clinician or a GP in the hospital. He/she will assume the position of the clinical governance director.

Important tools to support clinical effectiveness include evidence based guidelines and clinical standards. Such tools are particularly important where there is variation between hospitals or geographical areas in clinical outcomes or access to treatments.

Clinical guidelines and standards may be developed internationally, nationally or locally. At hospital level, local guidelines may be developed to address an area of uncertainty or disagreement in clinical practice, or where clinical outcomes are poor. The development of clinical guidelines involves a critical appraisal of the literature, combined with the views of experts in the particular field.