As we saw in Module 1, the Primary and Community Healthcare Standards define clinical governance as “the set of relationships and responsibilities established by a healthcare service to ensure good clinical outcomes.”

Clinical governance provides the framework for you to organise and structure what you do to support appropriate clinical outcomes for consumers.

It is a way of thinking about clinical quality and safety that should

• Infuse all aspects of the operations of your service and influence its culture;
• Inform how your service is led and managed;  
• Help shape your workforce profile and skillset; as well as systems, policies and procedures;
• Influence decisions made with respect to the built environment and other infrastructure.

Clinical governance is part of corporate governance, and should be a normal part of business if your service delivers or hosts the provision of clinical care. It is not something extra that you and your workforce need to address on top of providing care and services to consumers.

Even if you are not delivering direct patient services, or if your practice is working with consumers seeking other social support, such as housing services, being aware of what good clinical governance looks like is still helpful.