Patient and public involvement is one of the least well developed components of clinical governance in NHS primary care trusts, according to a report by the National Audit Office.

This is despite the Department of Health’s NHS Reform agenda confirming it as one of the most important priorities given the drive towards a patient-led NHS, the NAO said.

The NAO said a lack of patient and public involvement was one of the greatest risks to progress in improving quality and safety after it found that patients and carers reported feeling excluded from aspects of patients’ care.

In its report, the watchdog recommended that the Department of Health should explicitly address quality as a requirement in developing its guidance for PCT commissioning.

Sir John Bourn, head of the NAO, said: ‘Good clinical governance is essential if patients and the public are to have greater confidence in the NHS.

‘Whilst Primary Care Trusts have made good progress in getting structures and processes in place, there has been less progress in actually implementing the fundamental components of clinical governance, particularly patient and public involvement,’ he added.

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