ABSTRACT
Primary care trusts (PCTs) are relatively new organisations at varying stages of development. This chapter describes how one large city PCT has developed its approach to clinical governance. It promotes clinical governance among practices and clinical services. Primary care groups made significant progress in developing the infrastructure to support clinical governance. The implementation of clinical governance at the level of a PCT is different to implementation at the level of a practice or clinical service, and poses different challenges. The construction of a clinical governance strategy for the PCT has been critical in setting the direction of travel, in bringing together the predecessor organisations, and in gaining ownership to move forward. Lifelong learning embraces a range of activities which encourage non-stop learning – learning from error, learning from research and research evidence, and learning from each other. Newcastle is unusual among PCTs in that corporate and clinical governance have been combined, with one person appointed to head up both.
