An overview of clinical governance policies, practices and initiatives

Abstract

TO THE EDITOR: Braithwaite and Travaglia make some telling points in their article ?An overview of clinical governance policies, practices and initiatives?. 1 However, while they have identified many of the key components of clinical governance, they have underplayed the role that collaborations and partnerships have in ensuring the quality of clinical care. Braithwaite and Travaglia suggest that corporate governance is about what happens in the board room and clinical governance is what happens at the clinical level of the organisation. The governors (in some cases this is the Boards; sometimes, the executive group) and the clinicians are equally responsible for the quality of clinical care that is provided in the organisation. They have different roles and use different strategies, but for many initiatives they must combine forces. We should not see governance in hierarchical but in partnership terms.