Managed Care: Clinical Governance and Risk Management

Abstract

One of the consequences of considering an approach to managing care is the responsibility of providers, both individually and collectively, for providing good quality services. It is this aspect which clinical governance seeks to address, bringing an emphasis on quality, underpinned by an explicit policy priority.

In this article, the authors look at the purpose and content of clinical governance, its growth from a foundation of clinical audit, its effect on the behaviour of clinicians and provider organisations, and at the hopes pinned on clinical governance for assuring a quality health service in future.