Using clinical risk management processes to develop the national service framework for coronary heart disease

Abstract

This article discusses the role of clinical risk management in the implementation of the National Service Framework for Coronary Heart Disease (NSFCHD). It considers the practical difficulties faced in meeting NSF standards, and proposes a combined, complementary approach involving primary and secondary care. While the NSF makes no explicit reference to clinical risk management, the risk manager has an important role to play in ensuring that an adverse event reporting system is in place and its role fully accepted by clinicians. From a medico‐legal standpoint, a commitment to auditing outcomes and maintaining good clinician‐patient communication is viewed as essential. It concludes that doctors’ and patients’ interests are best served by clinicians adopting a clinical risk management approach to implementing the NSFCHD.