Clinical governance: Professional Resources

The resources on this page are arranged by region:

England

NHS England (2014) Five year forward view. This proposes the development of new healthcare models to suit local needs, including multispecialty community providers, and primary and acute care systems – involve integrating primary care and hospital care in a single provider organization. The document restates the need for removing wasteful practices and processes and emphasizes the role of digital technologies in contributing to redesigning a better health service. 

Care Quality Commission (2013) Raising standards, putting people first. Our strategy for 2013 to 2016. This describes the changes that the CQC is making to the way they inspect and regulate health and social care services. These changes will come into effect in NHS hospitals and mental health trusts first. The standards that relate most directly to the quality and safety of care are listed at: Regulations for service providers and managers. The CQC is now developing a new five-year strategy, which will be launched in April 2016.

National Institute for Health and Care Excellence. Quality standards. NICE quality standards are concise sets of prioritised statements designed to drive measurable quality improvements within a particular area of health or care. Quality standards cover a broad range of topics (healthcare, social care and public health) and are relevant to a variety of different audiences, which will vary across the topics.

Department of Health (2012) NHS Constitution for England. The NHS Constitution establishes the principles and values of the NHS in England. It sets out rights for patients, public and staff. It outlines NHS commitments to patients and staff, and the responsibilities that the public, patients and staff owe to one another to ensure that the NHS operates fairly and effectively.

Northern Ireland

Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety (DHSSPS) (2011) Quality 2020: A 10 year strategy to protect and improve quality in health and social care in Northern Ireland. The aim of the Quality 2020 strategy is to establish a framework that will protect and improve quality within Northern Ireland's health and social care over the next 10 years. The strategy focuses on three key components: safety; effectiveness and patient and client focus. In delivering high quality health and social care this strategy also identifies the need to promote the following values: empowerment; involvement; respect; partnership; learning; community; continuity; equity and equality. 

DHSSPS (2011) Transforming your care. Transforming Your Care sets out an overarching road map for change in the provision of health and social care services in Northern Ireland. It focuses on reshaping how services are to be structured and delivered in order to make best use of all resources available, and in so doing, ensure that services are safe, resilient and sustainable into the future.

DHSSPS (2006) The Quality Standards for Health and Social Care. This document sets out the quality standards that the DHSSPS considers people should expect from Health and Personal Social Services (HPSS). They are used by the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority (RQIA) to assess the quality of care provided by the HPSS in Northern Ireland.

Scotland

Scottish Government (2010) The healthcare quality strategy for NHS Scotland. The Scottish Government's quality strategy is a development of 'Better Health, Better Care' (2007) which made a series of commitments to improve the health of everyone in Scotland and to improve the quality of health care and the health care experience. This quality strategy builds on these foundations and identifies three health care quality ambitions: to support the delivery of person-centred, safe and effective care to the people of Scotland. See also: Scottish Government: Quality strategy.

Scottish Government (2016) National Clinical Strategy for Scotland. The clinical strategy sets out the case for: planning and delivery of primary care services around individuals and their communities; planning hospital networks at a national, regional, or local level based on a population paradigm; providing high value, proportionate, effective and sustainable healthcare; transformational change supported by investment in e-health and technological advances.

Scottish Government (2018) Scotland's Digital Health and Care Strategy: enabling, connecting and empowering. Scotland's Digital Health and Care Strategy shows how they will use technology to reshape and improve services, support person-centred care, and improve outcomes.

Wales

Public Health Wales. Improvement Cymru. Improvement Cymru is the improvement service for NHS Wales. Our aim is to support the creation of the best quality health and care system for Wales so that everyone has access to safe, effective and efficient care in the right place and at the right time.

Public Health Wales. Improvement Cymru Strategy - 2021-2026. The aim of the strategy is to support the creation of the best quality health and care system for Wales so that everyone has access to safe, effective and efficient care in the right place and at the right time across the whole care system.

Public Health Wales. Health and Care Standards. The Health and Care Standards set out the Welsh Government’s common framework of standards to support the NHS and partner organisations in providing effective, timely and quality services across all healthcare settings. They set out what the people of Wales can expect when they access health services and what part they themselves can play in promoting their own health and wellbeing. 

Welsh Government. Quality and Safety Framework. Learning and Improving (2021) (PDF). The Framework states that organisations at every level should function as a quality management system to ensure that care meets the six domains of quality; care that is safe, effective, patient-centred, timely, efficient and equitable.