Director’s Welcome
“Good corporate governance is about ‘intellectual honesty’ and not just sticking to rules and regulations”. Mervyn King, The King Report
As the leaders of public bodies charged with delivering complex and diverse range of, services to the people of Wales, NHS boards need to demonstrate the highest standards of governance practice.
Boards are the frontline regulators, having to satisfy themselves at all times that their organisation is acting within the law, abiding by agreed codes of practice and meeting all relevant compliances.
They are the controlling mind of the organisation, gaining assurance that services are safe, joined up and cost effective.
With Local Health Boards as our brand new, integrated NHS organisations with large budgets, huge workforces, and far-reaching remits, it is more important than ever before that our board members are fully equipped to discharge these significant responsibilities effectively. The highest standards of governance in our NHS Trusts is also as important as ever.
This web-based guide has been designed to support board members fulfill their governance responsibilities, and has been written to complement the NHS Wales Governance eManual, developed by the Welsh Assembly Government.
Our guide brings together a wide selection of practical help and guidance to help board members get to grips with their duties as a frontline regulator, and advice on how to do it well.
We all have a duty to our patients, users, carers, staff, taxpayers, the Assembly, our partners and suppliers, to ensure that our services are effective and the care we provide is safe and of the highest-quality possible.
I hope this guide will be useful in helping you to achieve this goal, and as a result, help you to build the highest levels of public confidence in your organisations.
It is important to the Welsh NHS Confederation that we constantly develop the services we provide to our members. Please let us know of any way that we may improve the guide both in terms of its design and content.
Mike Ponton
Director
Welsh NHS Confederation