Session Three - Introduction to Clinical Governance
Background
In 1948 the National Health Service was established with no particular agenda for quality. It was assumed appropriate quality would result from the provision of an infrastructure and the training and education of staff. "Quality was seen as inherent in the system, sustained by the ethos and skills of the health professionals working within it''. Professionals and patients would no doubt define quality in different ways. Clinicians may justifiably focus on "doing the right things, for the right people, at the right time, and doing them right first time" (Donald & Richardson, 1998).