Website of The Care Home Environment Magazine

The key to person-centred clinical excellence

Petrina Turner-Benny, UK executive director and deputy CEO of Leecare Solutions, explains how clinical governance creates an opportunity for care staff and managers alike to constantly measure the pulse of the clinical health of their business, enabling them to plan more effectively and to intervene faster and earlier to improve resident safety

Clinical governance is a relatively new concept that originated out of the NHS late last century in response to a number of significant and avoidable clinical events. It was originally defined by Gabriel Scully and Liam Donaldson in 1998 as: “ … a system through which healthcare organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality of their services and safeguarding high standards of care, creating an environment in which excellence in clinical care will flourish.”1

For many decades, health agencies around the world have grappled with how to raise the quality of healthcare in an environment not at all conducive to doing so. Managers desperate to instil change have been stymied by a lack of direction, lack of adequate care data, and limited or inappropriate resources. This has been combined with the duplication or complete absence of appropriate service provision between primary and secondary care and geographical and service patch protection which prevents adequate health data being shared between agencies. This overwhelming burden of bureaucracy has meant the health consumer is constantly at risk of not receiving the level of care they need or deserve, particularly when accessing care across different thresholds. Faced with the ongoing requirement to meet fiscal and operational targets, managers must often make compromises that are at the expense of providing personcentred care. 

Prior to the widely accepted and adapted concept of clinical governance, healthcare agencies sought to plug their quality gaps through quality assurance programs that were not always mandated or underpinned by appropriate leadership nor effectively joined up or communicated adequately to care staff to effectively inform change. Hence, a myriad of different definitions and frameworks have evolved to understand and define clinical governance as it best relates to different healthcare environments. However, in the care home environment, at its essence it can be easily described as an opportunity for care staff and managers to constantly measure the pulse of the clinical health of their business; to plan effectively, to intervene quickly and early to improve resident safety, and to ensure that learnings are taken on board by individuals, the teams responsible, and embedded into the organisational culture at large.

Log in or register FREE to read the rest

This story is Premium Content and is only available to registered users. Please log in at the top of the page to view the full text. If you don't already have an account, please register with us completely free of charge.
Register

Upcoming Events

Kent & Medway Registered Manager Conference for Kent Care Providers

Kent County Showground, Detling, Maidstone ME14 3JF
10th October 2023

Care Show Birmingham 2023

National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham
11th October - 12th October 2023

Care Roadshow South

Epsom Downs Racecourse, Epsom
17th October 2023

Dementia Summit

The King’s Fund, No.11 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0AN
Tuesday 31st October 2023

Kent and Medway Care Sector Digital Event

Mercure Maidstone Great Danes Hotel, ME17 1RE
8th November 2023

Care Roadshow Wales

Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff
14th November 2023

Upcoming Events

Kent & Medway Registered Manager Conference for Kent Care Providers

Kent County Showground, Detling, Maidstone ME14 3JF
10th October 2023

Care Show Birmingham 2023

National Exhibition Centre, Birmingham
11th October - 12th October 2023

Care Roadshow South

Epsom Downs Racecourse, Epsom
17th October 2023

Dementia Summit

The King’s Fund, No.11 Cavendish Square, London, W1G 0AN
Tuesday 31st October 2023

Kent and Medway Care Sector Digital Event

Mercure Maidstone Great Danes Hotel, ME17 1RE
8th November 2023

Care Roadshow Wales

Cardiff City Stadium, Cardiff
14th November 2023

Step Communications Ltd, Step House, North Farm Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN2 3DR
Tel: 01892 779999 Fax: 01892 616177
www.step-communications.com
© 2023 Step Communications Ltd. Registered in England. Registration Number 3893025