ABSTRACT
This chapter provides the background and current approaches to clinical risk management in the NHS and its relevance for those educators in Higher Education who are responsible, together with their NHS stakeholders, for the education of health care practitioners. Clinical education is an integral component of any pre-registration programme providing students with opportunities to prepare themselves for the real world of professional practice. But it can be seen that the reality is that clinical settings, whilst essential for work-based learning, are or have the potential to be hazardous places where students can be harmed or cause harm to others. Students should be aware of the need for patients to have clear roles to play in the promotion and achievement of safety goals. The National Patient Safety Agency is a key body set up within the national clinical governance framework with a remit that includes the learning from errors.
