Strengthening clinical governance through cultivating the line management role

The implementation of clinical governance in health care services introduces increased responsibility and transparency around safety and quality into all staff roles. Encouraging staff to assume these responsibilities as part of their daily routine is fundamental to achieving effective clinical governance, and requires health care managers at all levels to embrace clinical governance leadership and management. Fostering this role will need to be approached skilfully if managers are to achieve effective leadership of clinical governance activities. This paper reviews the management and quality-related literature to explore how these roles may best be developed to ensure that health care managers are equipped and willing to undertake the critical task of translating clinical governance policy into day-to-day practice.