Adjunct Professor Alan Lilly is currently an Executive Consultant with Johnstaff Advisory in Melbourne and an experienced Board Director and Chief Executive. He is currently Chair of Northern Health (metropolitan health service) in Melbourne and Board Director of Mayflower (aged care and senior living). He has substantial experience across health, aged care, mental health, disability and community services, amassed over more than forty years in a range of clinical and leadership roles across public, private and not-for-profit organisations. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Australian Catholic University.
He is a Registered Psychiatric Nurse and Registered General Nurse by background, with a Graduate Diploma in Health Services Management and Master of Business in Health Administration. He is a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, a Fellow (and Certified Health Executive) of the Australasian College of Health Service Management and a Fellow of the Institute of Managers and Leaders.
From Framework to Foresight: Applying the New National Model for Clinical Governance to Aged Care
The release of the new National Model for Clinical Governance (June 2026) provides an important opportunity to align clinical governance across health and aged care.
While developed for health services, the Model’s six foundations:
Provide a compelling framework to consider for clinical governance in aged care.
This is particularly timely as the Aged Care Act and strengthened Aged Care Standards place greater emphasis on the governing body’s responsibility for clinical governance and require clinical governance to be integrated with corporate governance.
So what would the National Model look like if translated into an aged care environment? This presentation explores that question and the opportunities for its adoption.
Presentation outline
Drawing on practical experience across healthcare and aged care governance, the presentation will examine each of the six foundations through an aged care lens. It will consider what each foundation might mean at Board, executive, service and point-of-care levels, and explore the opportunities and challenges of translating contemporary clinical governance principles into a sector with a different workforce, operating environment, care model and governance maturity.
The presentation will then move from framework to foresight – exploring how Boards and senior leaders can use clinical governance to answer the question: “How do we know that we are providing person-centred, evidence-based, safe, effective and co-ordinated care?”
A practical governance lens will be introduced, linking each foundation to the questions Boards should ask, the evidence they should seek and the warning signals that may indicate weaknesses in the organisation’s clinical governance system.
Key takeaways – Participants will:
The presentation’s central proposition is simple:
The existence of a clinical governance system does not demonstrate effective clinical governance. The real test is whether it enables an organisation to see, understand and act on what is happening to the people in its care.