Clinical governance

The Aged Care Quality Standards and the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards include requirements for organisations to have a clinical governance framework, as well as policies to address infection control, antimicrobial stewardship and open disclosure processes.

It is a mandatory requirement for all Australian hospitals and day procedure services to be assessed through an independent accreditation process to determine whether they are in compliance with the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards.

What is clinical governance?

The set of relationships and responsibilities between a health service organisation and its relevant stakeholders to guarantee good outcomes and continuously strive to improve clinical care for clients.

At its core, effective clinical governance fosters a culture within an organisation in which healthcare professionals of all levels routinely question: ‘Am I doing it right? How can I do better?’.

Purpose of clinical governance

The purpose of clinical governance is to ensure that everyone is accountable to clients and the community for delivering good clinical outcomes and meeting clinical indicators. It is an all-encompassing framework, and also includes infection prevention, antimicrobial stewardship and waste management.

Six key components of the Clinical Governance Framework

  1. Governance, leaderships and culture
  2. Partnering with clients
  3. Roles and responsibilities
  4. Client safety and quality improvement systems
  5. Clinical performance and effectiveness
  6. Safe environment for the delivery of care

Policies related to Clinical Governance can be found in the SPP Reading Room:

  • Info Sheet: Clinical Governance
  • Policy: Clinical Governance
  • Policy: Open Disclosure
  • Policy: Infection Prevention and Control
  • Policy: Antimicrobial Stewardship
  • Policy: Waste Management