What is Clinical Governance?

Accountability principles

By integrating governance committees into our organisational structure, we have clear accountability lines between governance committees, group and local leadership, and service delivery teams.

At each Nexus hospital, a framework of committees responsible for clinical governance, support our doctors, technical and support staff. These committees are managed by the local hospital leadership team. Each hospital also has a Local Hospital Board, comprising at least two members of the Nexus Group Board.

Medical Advisory Committees – every Nexus hospital is supported by a Medical Advisory Committee (MAC) comprised of independent medical specialists, including anaesthetists, representing the hospital’s specialties, together with the Director of Nursing and experienced nurses and facility managers. Each Local Hospital MAC is responsible for making recommendations regarding surgeon credentialing, and reviewing incidents, adverse events and clinical trends. It oversees antibiotic stewardship, reviews internal and external audit outcomes to ensure we continue to improve patient care, and provides advice to its Local Hospital Board.

Local Hospital Boards – Each Nexus hospital cites its Local Hospital Board as its highest level of Governance.  In turn, the membership of each Local Hospital Board is comprised of at least two members of the Nexus Group Board.

Clinical Governance Committee – Nexus’s national Clinical Governance Committee supports each MAC and Local Hospital Board. This Committee includes highly experienced specialist surgical and anaesthetic representatives, plus senior Directors of Nursing from across our hospitals. It is chaired by the group’s Medical Director, and reports directly to the Nexus Group Board on matters of patient care, safety and clinical governance.

Nexus Group Board – the Nexus Group Board holds ultimate responsibility to ensure the clinical governance systems are in place and functioning effectively at each facility within the group.

Driving high quality care

We actively engage with three groups to continuously evaluate and improve our systems and processes, creating a continuous feedback loop, driving the standard and quality of patient care in our hospitals:

  • Medical specialists, including surgeons and proceduralists, anaesthetists and surgical assistants
  • Internal clinical caregivers, including nursing staff, employee medical practitioners, allied health practitioners and technicians, and support and executive staff
  • Consumers, including patients, their carers and family, and the broader community

This extends beyond everyday interactions. For example, we formally involve consumers in advising hospital and group leadership, and actively involve Nexus staff, executive and board in the broader community.

Our 5 Pillars of Clinical Governance

Our Clinical Governance is supported by five Framework Pillars, underpinned by core principles that are incorporated into the systems comprising our clinical governance.

Our continuous feedback loop

With strong Local Hospital clinical governance engagement, and direct communication between those operating at a Local Hospital and the committees overseeing governance at Nexus Group level, we ensure effective communication to Nexus Group bodies responsible for clinical and other governance activities.