Clinical Governance

Clinical Governance is an initiative which integrates a range of different activities including accountability, leadership and teamwork in order to achieve clinical excellence for every patient treated at Sarah Cannon Research UK. Clinical Governance provides the means for improvement and not for judgement.

Risk Management

Risk Management is an essential element of any organisation as there is a responsibility to minimise risk.  Through risk management the organisation can minimise and control the risks ensuring employees, patients, contractors and members of the public will not be exposed to any unnecessary hazards.

Integrated Governance

Integrated Governance describes a coordinating function whereby healthcare organisations lead, direct and coordinate their activities to achieve organisational objectives, safety and quality of service with particular focus on how the organisation relates to its patients and customers, the wider healthcare community and partner organisations. 

At Sarah Cannon Research UK, we are governed holistically and incorporate all aspects of quality control, audit and review, risk and incident management, comments and complaints into an integrated process to ensure the most beneficial outcomes and efficient improvements across the organisation.

 Integrated Governance Committee

This committee meets monthly to ensure a multi-disciplinary approach to the setting of standards of clinical practice.  The committee aims to ensure that clinical practice within the clinic is based on best available evidence-based practice and to review trends from complaints/incidents and near misses and ensure that appropriate action is taken to correct practice or address issues that arise.

The Integrated Governance Committee (IGC) reports to and is responsible for informing the Medical Advisory Committee of quality improvement outcomes, care systems within the clinic and effectiveness and other aspects of patient satisfaction and risk management.

Medical Advisory Committee

The Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) monitors and reviews the professional leadership of the clinic and its performance in regard to the management of risk.  The MAC also provides strategic guidance in developing key indicators capable of showing improvements in management of treatments, along with approving and reviewing new treatment regimens. 

The MAC is comprised of senior staff and consultants.  They work together to advise clinic management and represent patient interests.

Practicing Privileges 

All consultants overseeing trials have to apply for Practicing Privileges.  This enables the consultant to manage patients on trial and effectively means we have vetted the consultant as a professional who meets our high standards of care and service.

In order to have practicing privileges the consultant has to meet the following criteria:

  • General Medical Council (GMC) certificate
  • Professional indemnity insurance
  • Criminal Records Bureau (CRB)clearance
  • Have an annual appraisal
  • Approval by Medical Advisory Committee (MAC)