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Since the majority of our time is spent communicating with others, we must develop effective skills. The most important skill is the ability to listen. This goes beyond just giving the appearance of attention. We must be able to adopt the other person′s perspective in order to understand fully the message being sent. Because all meaning resides in people not in words, the ability to empathise with the sender is particularly valuable. The other significant aspect of communication is the non‐verbal message. Non‐verbal communication represents 55 per cent of the message and must be conveyed accurately in order to be effective. The verbal message must agree with the non‐verbal message if we are to have credibility. We must know ourselves, monitor our performance, and strive for accuracy and honesty in what we say and do. The rewards include more satisfying personal relationships and greater ease in accomplishing our personal goals.

This article reports on a research project, established to explore future trends and issues in population health and health care in the UK forward to 2015. The aim of the project is to explore how futures thinking can aid policy development in the health sector. The methods adopted in the study are outlined and initial findings are reported. The project, which has already produced several papers, published its policy report, Policy Futures for UK Health: 2000 Report in May.

This article from the NHS Clinical Governance Support Team (NCGST) outlines the development of quality concerns since the NHS was founded in 1948. It traces the development of clinical governance as a means of achieving continuous quality improvement and describes what the implementation of clinical governance means for patients and professionals. It analyses features of the cultural shift necessary to underpin quality improvement initiatives and describes with practical examples the constituents of the culture necessary for successful clinical governance. Future articles in this series will address other issues around clinical governance and will explain the model being followed by delegates to the NCGST’s Clinical Governance Development Programme as they implement clinical governance “on the ground”.