30 June 2026 marked an important milestone for Victorian health services, with clinical governance maturity assessments now substantially completed across the sector. This is a significant step forward in strengthening clinical governance capability and establishing a shared understanding of governance strengths, opportunities and priorities for improvement.
Health services have used a range of approaches to complete their assessments. Many services incorporated desktop reviews, workshops, multidisciplinary discussions and engagement with executive leaders, clinicians and Board members to ensure a comprehensive assessment of clinical governance maturity.
There has been the strong uptake of the Clinical Governance Maturity Matrix (CGMM) as a structured and evidence-based assessment tool. Services have reported that the tool provided a consistent and systematic approach to assessing clinical governance maturity. This allowed services to reflect on current practice and identify priorities for future improvement.
The four key stages of the self-assessment cycle: Plan, Monitor, Learn and Improve.
Across the sector, services have highlighted several benefits from the assessment process:
- Creating valuable opportunities for organisation-wide discussions about clinical governance.
- Bringing together clinicians, managers, executive leaders and Boards to develop shared understanding and ownership of improvement priorities.
- Validating areas of strength while identifying opportunities for capability development.
- Supporting more structured and evidence-informed decision-making.
- Encouraging reflection on clinical governance systems, processes and culture that may not otherwise have occurred.
Many services also found that combining document review with facilitated discussions provided a richer understanding of maturity than either approach alone. This allowed organisations to move beyond compliance-focused assessments and develop a more nuanced understanding of their strengths, gaps and improvement opportunities.
With assessments now complete, the focus shifts to improvement planning. Health services are using assessment findings to identify priority areas for action, develop targeted improvement plans and strengthen clinical governance capability over time. The insights generated through the assessment process provide a valuable evidence base to support sustainable improvement efforts and track progress into the future.
The broad uptake of the CGMM demonstrates the commitment across the sector to a consistent approach to understanding and improving clinical governance maturity. We will continue to support health services through resources, guidance and shared learning opportunities as organisations translate assessment insights into meaningful improvements for patients, consumers and communities.
