User involvement in clinical governance

Aims: This study aimed to identify how different trusts in England were utilising lay involvement through their clinical governance committees. Method: It considered the perspectives of both the trust and the lay members. Twenty-three clinical governance chairs and lay participants returned a questionnaire. Results: This study found that the lay participants were far from representative of the local population in terms of socio-demographics and special interests, and highlighted deficiencies in their recruitment and training. Conclusions: The conclusions point to successful approaches that could be applied by trusts.