Trusts must use, not just collect, clinical data

The first clinical governance reviews to come out of the Commission for Health Improvement (CHI) have shed valuable light on what to expect from an investigation by the government's clinical services watchdog.

Over the next four years every hospital, health authority, primary care trust, NHS trust, and local health group in England and Wales will be visited by a team of assessors to evaluate the clinical services being provided.

To help finalise the review process, three trusts—covering hospitals in Chesterfield, Southampton, and Sunderland—were assessed in a pilot scheme.

The reports on the trusts, published last week, highlight areas for which the hospitals are performing well and others for which …