Home Medicine Realising the developmental potential of Clinical Governance
Article
Licensed
Unlicensed Requires Authentication

Realising the developmental potential of Clinical Governance

  • Peter Degeling
Published/Copyright: May 29, 2006

Abstract

To be effective, Clinical Governance should reach all levels of a healthcare organisation. It requires structures and processes that integrate financial control, service performance, and clinical quality in ways that will engage clinicians and generate service improvements. The Clinical Governance arrangements of many Trusts, however, present several flaws. In particular, the “silos” organisational structure of Clinical Governance is based on generic issues such as risk management, clinical audit, clinical effectiveness and staff development, and it tends to treat clinical work as an undifferentiated aggregate. An alternative model focused on clinical pathways and on a balance between professional autonomy and accountability (responsible autonomy) should be promoted to make Clinical Governance work.


Corresponding author: Professor Peter Degeling, Director, Centre for Clinical Management Development, School for Health, Durham University, Durham, UK

References

1. Scally G, Donaldson LJ. Looking forward: clinical governance and the drive for quality improvement in the new NHS in England. Br Med J 1998; 317:61–5.10.1136/bmj.317.7150.61Search in Google Scholar

2. Leatherman S, Sutherland K. The quest for quality in the NHS: a mid-term evaluation of the ten-year quality agenda. London: Nuffield Trust, 2003.Search in Google Scholar

3. Degeling P, Kennedy J, Macbeth F, Telfer B, Maxwell S, Coyle B. Practitioner perspectives on the objectives and outcomes of Clinical Governance: some evidence from Wales. In: Gray A, Harrison S, editors. Governing medicine: theory and practice. Maidenhead: Open University Press, 2004.Search in Google Scholar

4. Gregory C, Pope S, Werry D, Dobek P. Reduced length of stay and improved appropriateness of care with a clinical path for total knee or hip arthroplasty. J Qual Improvement 1996; 22:617–27.10.1016/S1070-3241(16)30269-3Search in Google Scholar

5. Johnson S. Pathways of care: what and how? J Managed Care 1997; 1:15–7.10.1177/136395959700100106Search in Google Scholar

6. Flynn AM, Kilgallen ME. Case management: a multidisciplinary approach to the evaluation of cost and quality standards. J Nurs Care Qual 1993; 8:58–66.10.1097/00001786-199310000-00008Search in Google Scholar

7. Guiliano KK, Poirier CE. Nursing care management: critical pathways to desirable outcomes. Nurs Manage 1991; 22:52–5.10.1097/00006247-199103000-00015Search in Google Scholar

8. Poole DL. Care profiles, pathways and protocols. Physiotherapy 1994; 80:256–66.Search in Google Scholar

9. Degeling P, Kennedy J. What is the work? An analysis of activity in fifteen NHS Trusts. Durham: Centre for Clinical Management Development, University of Durham (forthcoming).Search in Google Scholar

10. Degeling P. Reconsidering clinical accountability. An examination of some dilemmas inherent in efforts to bolster clinician accountability. Int J Health Plann Manage 2000; 15:3–16.10.1002/(SICI)1099-1751(200001/03)15:1<3::AID-HPM568>3.0.CO;2-RSearch in Google Scholar

11. Degeling P, Kennedy J, Hill M. Mediating the cultural boundaries between medicine, nursing and management – the central challenge in hospital reform. Health Serv Manage Res 2001; 14:36–48.Search in Google Scholar

Published Online: 2006-5-29
Published in Print: 2006-6-1

©2006 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin New York

Downloaded on 7.12.2025 from https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1515/CCLM.2006.120/html?lang=en
Scroll to top button