Focus areas for building effective Governance Systems for Healthcare Organisations

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Introduction

HIQA often note that they believe that there is a clear link between good governance and better outcomes for service users. The former Chief Inspector of Social Services and Director of Regulation, Mary Dunnion, detailed that

Regulation has shown that in order for any provider to deliver and sustain a good service there must be effective governance and management. The provider must have robust governance arrangements in place in order to ensure that a safe, quality service is being run” (HIQA, 2015).

In HCI’s Research Paper The Healthcare System: Will We Ever Learn? Review of the common themes arising from UK and Ireland healthcare inquiries, HCI found that throughout the inquires reviewed, Governance, or lack thereof, was identified as being central to systematic failures that facilitated catastrophic patient outcomes.

In this blog we discuss some of the governance failures identified in HCI’s Research Paper and provide some guidance on building effective governance systems for healthcare organisations.


Governance findings identified in HCI’s Research Paper

The key governance failings identified in HCI’s Research Paper that were central to the systematic failures that facilitated catastrophic patient outcomes include:


Focus areas for building effective Governance Systems for Healthcare Organisations

The integration of corporate and clinical governance is recognised as being of the utmost importance for all health system changes (HSE, 2014). As a result, governance is central to all regulation frameworks, as reflected in ISQua’s Guidelines and Principles for the Development of Health and Social Care Standards, the function of which relate to implementing policy, setting targets or goals for the future through planning and budgeting for the organisation’s range of services, establishing processes for achieving those targets, allocating resources to accomplish those plans and ensuring that plans are achieved by organising, staffing, controlling and problem-solving (ISQua, 2015). To achieve this function effectively, the governing body must:


Conclusion

As mentioned, good governance often correlates to better outcomes for service users. Where Governance fails it can have severe consequences for service users.

At HCI we help providers of health and social care make intelligence driven decisions to attain, manage and improve quality, safety and regulatory compliance. We have almost two decades experience in supporting health and social care organisations in building robust governance systems, helping them to ensure effective oversight and improve the quality and safety of services.

If you would like support in reviewing your governance arrangements, HCI has the necessary expertise to. For more information contact HCI at 01 629 2559 or info@hci.care.


References

HIQA, 2015. Report of the investigation into the safety, quality and standards of services provided by the Health Service Executive to patients in the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise. [Online] Available at: https://www.hiqa.ie/sites/default/files/2017-01/Portlaoise-Investigation-Report.pdf

HSE, 2014. Report of the Quality and Safety Clinical governance Development Initative

ISQua, 2015. Guidelines and Principles for the Development of Health and Social Care Standards, 4th Edition Version 1.2,

NHS, 2014. The NHS Foundation Trust Code of Governance

HIQA, 2012. National Standards for Safer Better Healthcare

HIQA, 2016. Review of progress made at the Midland Regional Hospital, Portlaoise, in implementing recommendations followings HIQA’s investigations. [Online] Available at: https://www.hiqa.ie/sites/default/files/2017-02/MRHP_Review_Report.pdf


Download the Research Paper

The Healthcare System – Will We Ever Learn?

A review of the common themes arising from UK and Ireland Healthcare Inquiries.

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Contact Us

For more information contact info@hci.care or Phone +353 (0)1 6292559.

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