The Clinical Governance in the UK - Essay Example

"The Clinical Governance in the UK" is a controversial example of a paper on the health system. 
This is the framework for all physicians and nurses in the UK (Scotland, England, Wales, and Northern Ireland), to follow to improve the quality of service that they provide for their patients.  Launched in 1988 its core aim was a quality improvement and integrated all the strategies that work towards caring for the patient and brought it under one scope. This includes the quality of the information provided to the patient, collaboration, and teamwork amongst the different levels of caregivers and also with the patients, reducing differences in services rendered, while bringing into effect practice based on evidence. Thus the term clinical governance is a sort of umbrella term that brings under its scope all practices that aim at providing the patient with high-quality services, maintaining that level of service while also working towards furthering one’s scope and quality of the services rendered.  

     The basic principles that outline the implementation of clinical governance are: 

• It must be focussed on giving quality service and also on improving the present levels of services rendered.  
• it must be made applicable to all forms of medical services and care provided at any time within the UK 

• Clinical governance aims at true partnerships between the caregivers at all levels and also between the patients and the caregivers. Public and patient involvement is an important criterion of effective clinical governance 
• Nurses are an essential part of effective clinical governance implementation. 

     While working towards maintaining the standards as are required under the defining outline of clinical governance, there are certain steps that the physicians and nurses must follow to achieve optimum success: 

1. Putting the patient’s experience at the center of effective health care: this primarily involves the involvement of the public and the patients, in all forms of the care given. the patient must be made aware of the treatment methods, while his contributions about implementing new methods of care planning, training, and education of the staff and information development must be given cognizance. Since it is the patients that are experiencing the care, thus it is they that are the best form of feedback provider, it is always important to involve the patients in the decision-making arena, relevant to their caregiving plan. Under this method there should be an effective planning and organization of the care provided; so that the patients are involved completely while in the planning there should be provisions for information dissemination even amongst the diverse ethnic and cultural population as is seen in the UK. The environment for care should take into account the safety implications of both the patients and the caregivers 

1. Providing the caregivers with all relevant information: collecting data and information regarding the care-giving services from the patients will make it possible for all people involved in the process of medical services aware of what resources are available and how they must be used. They must be given access to all facilities involving primary levels of health and relevant social services. This is done with the express aim of providing patients with high-quality services.  

1. Under quality management measures, the risk management forms an important process where the optimum safety for the patients during their treatment must be provided for. 

1. Supporting the care-giving staff at various hospices and homes is another important criterion under the heading of clinical governance. Under this section, the staff must be provided for imparting education, proper training, and constant development in the management skills of the caregiving staff so that they can always provide quality service. 

1. Under the measure of building blocks of clinical governance, there must effective management of the staff under a competent leadership that would provide for good strategies and planning necessary to establish a good support system amongst the various caregiving facilities throughout the UK, and also amongst the care services and the patients.  

     Thus by bringing in the concept of clinical governance which is also applicable to palliative care for end-stage cancer patients, the government has tried to bring all concepts for effective medical facilities and services under one umbrella, with the express aim to provide the patients with maximum care.