Governance activities are often seen as part of the cost of being in business – tasks that needs to be undertaken rather than contributing to the purpose of the business directly. This perspective can lead to a ‘tick box’ mentality that is more concerned with filling in paperwork than achieving anything positive for patients. 

In the pharmacy, governance is managed from a number of perspectives: clinical, information and business. Good governance, as part of a good business operation, provides benefits to the operation and the customer. 

For example, it is easy to consider effective clinical governance processes to be an impediment to an efficient dispensing process. The time taken to record near misses, arrange learning meetings, record actions and read and follow SOPs can be viewed as a chore, and completed poorly as a result. Put it into the context of the business purpose of improving the health of patients, however, and effective clinical governance can be seen to benefit patients and the business alike.

Conclusion 

Success in any business can only be achieved by meeting customer needs. Patients need pharmacies to be successful in order for their needs to be met; pharmacies need their patients to be satisfied in order to be successful. Failure to recognise this mutually beneficial relationship, or focusing simply on business success, will undermine a pharmacy in the long-term. Aligning business purpose to patient need and linking all business activity to meeting this purpose creates long-term benefits for both patients and businesses.