Clinical governance in UK commercial occupational health providers

BACKGROUND: Clinical governance has been introduced into health care in the United Kingdom as a means to improve quality. At present there is no legal duty for commercial occupational providers to implement this model. AIM: This preliminary study examined how commercial occupational health providers had implemented clinical governance. METHODS: The senior clinical manager of commercial occupational health providers completed a questionnaire. RESULTS: Fourteen of 17 organizations asked to participate completed the survey. Most of these had implemented some form of clinical governance. Patient and public involvement was attributed the least importance of potential components of clinical governance. Organizations were more likely to have systems to address poor clinical performance than encourage excellent performance. CONCLUSIONS: Commercial occupational health providers have implemented clinical governance. Its focus appears to be avoidance of failures rather than clinical excellence and patients. However, further work is needed to explore this more fully.