Clinical governance is “a system through which NHS organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care by creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care will flourish.” (Scally and Donaldson 1998, p.61).  Clinical governance is an umbrella term. It covers activities that help sustain and improve high standards of patient care. Doctors may already be familiar with some of these activities, quality and safety improvement, for example. What is different is the effort to bind these activities together and make them more effective.  Health care organisations now have a duty to the communities they serve for maintaining the quality and safety of care. Whatever structures, systems and processes an organisation puts in place, it must be able to show evidence that standards are upheld.  The Bradford VTS website aims to promote a better understanding of clinical governance with this web resource. It wants to help GP trainees (and trainers) to become more involved with local and national quality improvement projects.

There are 5 key themes of clinical governance. 

1. Patient Focus     2. Quality Improvement     3. Staff Focus     4. Leadership     5. Information Focus