What is clinical governance?

• A. A system for scheduling staff.
• B. A protocol for marketing services.
• C. A framework for continuous improvement in healthcare.
• D. A process to monitor and improve patient safety and outcomes.

Answer: (C)

Clinical governance is the framework by which a health service ensures and improves the quality and safety of patient care. It brings together leadership, accountability, and systems that drive continuous improvement, ensuring practices are evidence-based, patient-centered, timely, and effective. It includes activities such as clinical audits, learning from incidents, risk management, ensuring staff competence and training, and using outcome data to make real changes across the service. The best description here is a framework for continuous improvement in healthcare because it captures the broad, system-wide approach to delivering better care. While monitoring safety and outcomes is a crucial part, clinical governance also covers how improvements are implemented, governance structures, and engagement with patients and staff, not just measurement. Scheduling staff or marketing services are unrelated to this overarching quality-and-safety framework.