Primary care groups in the United Kingdom: Quality and accountability

With the introduction of primary care groups (PCGs), the British National H ealth Service has attempted to integrate delivery, finance, and quality imp rovement into a locally directed care system with a strong sense of communi ty accountability. PCGs will eventually hold the budgets for primary care, specialist, hospital, and community-based services and have the flexibility to reapportion these budgets. Through clinical governance, PCGs are attemp ting to coordinate education, guidelines, audit and feedback, and other qua lity improvement approaches around health problems that are relevant to the ir patient panels and local communities. PCGs offer other nations attemptin g to improve the quality and accountability of health care an innovative ap proach that merits consideration.