National Model for Clinical Governance

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care recently released the 2026 National Model for Clinical Governance, providing updated guidance on clinical governance to help health services deliver consistently high-quality care. The model can be used by health services to review and strengthen their systems, culture and governance arrangements.

What is Clinical Governance?

Clinical governance is the framework through which healthcare organisations are accountable for continuously improving the quality of the services they provide. The new model provides direction for creating the environment, systems and culture that enable the delivery of high-quality care.

High-quality care is defined in this model as “care that is person-centred, safe, effective, accessible and integrated, provided in a way that is equitable, efficient and sustainable.”

Key changes: 

The 2026 model represents a significant shift from a focus on accreditation compliance towards building organisational cultures that support the delivery of high-quality care. It focuses strongly on the factors that drive quality care, including:

• Organisational culture;
• Strong leadership and accountability;
• Workforce wellbeing and psychological safety;
• Partnerships with patients, carers and consumers;
• Continuous quality improvement;
• Use of data to improve care and outcomes; and
• Governance of digital tools and technology, including automated systems such as artificial intelligence.

The model aligns strongly with many routine safety and quality initiatives, including incident reporting, medication reconciliation, antimicrobial stewardship, clinical audits, patient education and participation in multidisciplinary quality improvement initiatives.

What does this mean for frontline healthcare workers?

While boards and executives retain overall accountability, the model emphasises that every healthcare worker has a role in delivering safe, high-quality care. For frontline clinicians, the key message is that clinical governance is no longer viewed solely as a management responsibility. Instead, it is about creating a culture where everyone contributes to consistently high-quality care every day.

The biggest shift is from a focus on compliance and accreditation to a focus on culture, outcomes and continuous improvement. The model emphasises that high-quality care depends on strong leadership, safe workplace culture, patient partnership, effective teamwork and the intelligent use of data. Quality and safety are integral to everyday clinical practice.

The Six Foundations of Clinical Governance

Thew new model is a principles-based framework organised around six foundations of clinical governance:

1. Leading Systems and Organisational Culture

Healthcare organisations should create a culture where safety, quality and continuous improvement are everyone’s responsibility.

Frontline staff can contribute by:

• Speaking up about safety concerns;
• Participating in quality improvement initiatives;
• Supporting a just culture where incidents are reported and used as learning opportunities; and
• Promoting professionalism, teamwork and respectful communication.

2. Partnering with Patients, Carers and Consumers

The model recognises patients, carers and consumers as active partners in care.

Frontline staff can support patient-centred care by:

• Involving patients in medication and treatment decisions;
• Supporting informed consent and shared decision-making;
• Encouraging patients and carers to raise concerns;
• Listening to patient concerns and feedback;
• Respecting cultural, social and individual needs; and
• Providing clear and appropriate education and discharge information to patients and carers.

3. Building a Healthy Workforce Culture

A major addition to the new model is the explicit recognition that workforce wellbeing is a clinical governance issue and an essential requirement for safe patient care.

Frontline staff can support a healthy workplace culture by:

• Promoting psychological safety in the workplace;
• Reporting bullying, discrimination and unsafe behaviours;
• Supporting staff wellbeing and resilience; and
• Encouraging teamwork and multidisciplinary collaboration.

4. Enabling High-Quality and Integrated Clinical Practice

Health services should support evidence-based, coordinated care and ensure it is delivered by staff with appropriate skills and training.

For healthcare professionals, this means:

• Maintaining professional competence;
• Following evidence-based guidelines;
• Communicating effectively;
• Working collaboratively across disciplines and care settings; and
• Supporting continuity of care throughout the patient journey.

5. Managing and Reducing Risk

The model promotes a proactive approach to risk management focused on preventing harm before it occurs.

Healthcare professionals can actively contribute to risk management by:

• Reporting clinical incidents and near misses;
• Identifying risks before harm occurs;
• Participating in audits and safety reviews;
• Learning from errors and system failures; and
• Implementing improvements to reduce future risk

Near misses are recognised as valuable opportunities for learning and improvement.

6. Using Data for Better Care

The model strongly promotes using data to understand performance and improve outcomes.

Frontline staff can contribute by:

• Understanding relevant quality indicators;
• Participating in quality improvement projects;
• Using clinical indicators and audit results to improve practice; and
• Learning from trends rather than focussing solely on individual events.

Key Take-Home Messages for Frontline Staff

The 2026 National Model for Clinical Governance reinforces that clinical governance is not solely the responsibility of managers and executives. It highlights the important role frontline healthcare workers play in improving safety and quality.

Healthcare workers are encouraged to:

• Report incidents, near misses and hazards
• Speak up when safety concerns are identified, even if no harm has occurred.
• Involve patients and carers in decisions about treatment and care.
• Participate in quality improvement activities.
• Support colleagues and contribute to psychologically safe and respectful workplaces.
• Use evidence, guidelines and data to inform clinical decisions.
• Work collaboratively across disciplines and care settings to improve continuity of care.

High-quality care is everyone’s responsibility, and clinical governance should be embedded in routine clinical practice rather than viewed as an accreditation activity. Ultimately, quality and safety should be considered integral components of everyday clinical practice.