Clinical governance supports high quality health outcomes through clinical leadership and accountability to support the commission primary health services that are both safe and effective.

Primary Health Networks (PHNs) are leaders for change and while they are responsible for creating a culture of safety and quality there are boundaries to their capacity to control health outcomes. While commissioners are not direct service providers, they have responsibility for clinical governance in articulating safety requirements and monitoring the quality of processes and outcomes. PHNs also have a role in primary health care workforce development and influencing the uptake of quality improvement activities including the interface between primary care, acute care and community services.