Risk management
The Medway NHS Foundation Trust is committed to a strategy, which minimises risks to all its stakeholders through a comprehensive system of internal controls, whilst maximising potential for flexibility, innovation and best practice in delivery of its strategic objectives to ensure the health and safety of patients staff and visitors.
Good risk management awareness and practice at all levels is a critical success factor for an organisation such as Medway NHS Foundation Trust. Risk is inherent in everything we do, from determining service priorities, taking decisions about future strategies, or even deciding not to take any action at all.
Who is responsible for risk management?
The Chief Executive is accountable for having in place effective systems of risk management and internal control to a reasonable level rather than to eliminate all risk. The Chief Executive is required to sign a statement annually to this effect. This statement is approved by the Integrated Audit Committee prior to being signed off, giving assurance that they have confidence in the systems within the organisation.
The Deputy Chief Executive is the designated executive with overall responsibility for risk management and is supported in this role by the Head of Corporate Governance and Legal, ensuring the implementation of the assurance framework and for reporting to the Trust board.
Risk Specialists
The Trust has an extensive resource of key individuals that lead on designated areas of risk such as:-
- clinical risk
- clinical audit
- infection control
- safety
- security
- fire
- moving and handling
- health and safety
- information governance
- medical equipment training
- resuscitation service
- blood transfusion practitioner
The way in which the Trust Board is assured that risk is well managed is via its 3 main subcommittees which are the Quality Assurance Committee; the Integrated Audit Committee and the Investment & Contracts Committee. Combined, these committees ensure that the Trust is consistently:
- promoting a culture that protects our patients, staff and the organisation
- pulling together the wide and varied strands of risk management to provide a cohesive corporate overview of the Trust’s risk exposure
- supporting and advising on the management of risk within the directorates and departments
- training and developing staff to recognise and report risks, and to act to prevent and address risk
- raising awareness, monitoring and reporting of risks to the Trust Board and staff
- analysing risk to inform and aid the decision making process
- developing integrated systems of internal control and assurance framework
- developing and Implementing the Trust’s risk management framework
- the risk management structure for the Trust is a component of the Trust’s overall corporate governance structure