Prof Derek Bell discusses the College's new Quality Governance Fellowship


In early 2018, the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh launched a new concept, the Quality Governance Collaborative. Our initial aim was an ambitious one; to facilitate and support quality governance in our health systems, by bringing together leading thinkers and practitioners to educate and inform our Members and Fellows. The QGC is being led by one of the UK’s foremost experts on quality and governance, Prof Michael Deighan FRCP Edin.

While I was always convinced that there was a need for such a programme, the results have been beyond my expectations; particularly the excellent response we have received from colleagues, both clinical and non-clinical. I have also been heartened by the amount of people who, have taken the time to explain to me why they are so interested. And the common theme from all of them is to ensure that the NHS works better for staff and patients.

As my colleagues and I outlined in a recent edition of The Journal, the need for quality governance across healthcare has never been greater. As healthcare delivery becomes more complex, the problems that can result from poor governance systems are severe; recent examples such as Morecombe Bay and St George’s grimly illustrate the point.

We have held four evening meetings this year which looked at quality governance from a range of different perspectives, and I was particularly proud that we were able to welcome such a brilliant range of speakers; from the Chief Executive of NHSScotland Paul Gray, to the head of the armed forces in Scotland, Major General Bob Bruce. And just last month, we were honoured to welcome former UK Government Chief Medical Office Professor Sir Liam Donaldson (now one of the foremost authorities on patient safety, and currently a World Health Organisation ambassador on the topic), who spoke on clinical governance twenty years on.

From the outset, I was also keen that the QGC would work on a practical level, and that is why we have focussed on the governance around integrated health and social care. Over the course of two roundtable meetings and small afternoon workshop which was oversubscribed, we have brought together leading stakeholders from across health and social care, not just in Scotland but from Greater Manchester too, and we are now about to publish a report and toolkit to help those working in these fields.

But perhaps the most difficult aspect of QGC work - and that which I hope will have the strongest practical impact – is creating the world’s first Quality Governance Fellowship programme. This programme, which will begin in February 2019, was opened for applications last month and is almost fully subscribed already. It will bring together some of the world’s foremost authorities on quality governance to equip Fellows from across the healthcare professions to improve their organisation’s governance. I firmly believe that this can and will have a real impact in improving our health and social care systems, and ultimately, deliver better, safer and more efficient care to patients.

There has been a lot of hard work behind the scenes, and there were times when we wondered if we had taken on too much, or been too ambitious in our undertaking. But I am very proud that once more, our College is placing Edinburgh, which has long been at the forefront of medicine, at the cutting edge by leading the world in what is an increasingly important part of modern health and care systems. 

Fellowship. For details on how to apply, please see here – the deadline for applications is Friday 30th November 2018.

Professor Derek Bell OBE - College President

Keith Small

Contact: Keith Small k.small@rcpe.ac.uk 0131 247 3688