The service context for clinical guidelines: supporting guideline implementation by assuring and improving the quality of service in which clinicians work.

This paper argues that accreditation schemes and quality networks promote good contexts for the implementation of clinical guidelines. It raises questions about how organizational standards should be developed, structured and focused, how clinical guidelines and organizational standards should connect, how to practically increase the number of such schemes and their scope, and the role of professional bodies in this. There is a considerable amount of administration involved in running an accreditation scheme or quality network and there are risks involved in starting in new areas. One way forward is for professional bodies to partner to share risks and to build a common operating platform for the administration of the work across the professional bodies. This platform could be guided by topic experts within the bodies.