A Quality Use of Medicines program for continuity of care in therapeutics from hospital to community

To the Editor: It is refreshing to see quality initiatives like that of Mant et al,1 which examine issues of continuity across different territories. Use of a simple audit tool (minimum dataset) and methodology has worked well to illuminate what misleadingly appears to be a simple problem (ie, the two-way exchange of information between the hospital and general practitioner in relation to medication). Unfortunately, like many problems that appear straightforward and easily fixable, the reality is that this issue is far more complex to address. A lack of clinical governance has been made apparent in both the public hospitals and the Divisions of General Practice that participated. Clinical governance demands that organisations be accountable for standards and performance in relation to clinical care,2 and this is integral to addressing problems both internally and across the continuum of care.