We aim to be open and transparent and to use ‘good’ governance to improve the effectiveness of our services

Governance is a word used to describe the ways that organisations ensure they run themselves efficiently and effectively. It also describes the ways organisations are open and accountable to the people they serve for the work they do.

Good governance is maintained by the structures, systems and processes we put in place to ensure the proper management of our work, and by the ways we expect our staff to work. It’s also about how we scrutinise our performance and deal with poor practice and other problems. It’s about how we identify and manage risks, whether in terms of patient care, to our staff, and to the organisation as a whole. For example, by ensuring we manage our finances effectively.

We take this very seriously at Primary Care Sheffield because we know that through robust governance we can improve the quality of the care we provide.

One of the most important ways in which we can deliver good governance is by ensuring that we are transparent in our work and accountable when things do not go as well as we might like.

Our Board

The work of Primary Care Sheffield is overseen by a Board of Directors, which sets our strategic direction and monitors performance and progress. The Board is made up of Non-Executive Directors, who use skills and experience gained from the private, public and voluntary sectors to help run the Trust, but who do not have day-to-day managerial responsibilities here, and members of the Executive Leadership Team, who are paid employees with clear areas of work responsibility within the Trust.

Our Non-Executive directors include appointees representing GP practices in the City. Each ‘locality’ appoints two directors– a Practice Manager and a GP – each with a term of office of four years. Having shareholder practice representation on the board is a very important part of the organisation’s governance structures ensuring that we are meeting the needs of practices in the City.

Board committees

We have a number of committees which report into the board. This committees have more time to look at the detail of specific areas of strategy and performance and make recommendations to the board.

Clinical Governance

The role of clinical governance sits within the delegated committee of the board the Clinical Governance Committee. This committee oversees the organisations approach to clinical governance modelled on guidance and good practice within the healthcare sector. This committee is also responsible for PCS’s research activity ensuring that it is consistent and follows appropriate codes.

Business and Performance

The Business and Performance committee takes oversight of the financial and resource performance of the organisation with its main focus on the oversight of the non-clinical and business risks of the organisation.

Audit Committee

The Audit committee ensures there are robust financial, operational and workforce governance frameworks within the organisation and compliance with agreed standards, procedures and statutory responsibilities.

Duty Of Candour

The PCS value of being open – aligns well with our compliance with the Duty of Candour Process. Patients are notified of any moderate harm caused to them by either an act or an omission by PCS services.

The Caldicott Guardian for the organisation has overall responsibility for protecting the confidentiality of people’s health and care information and ensures that this information is used properly within the organisation.

Safeguarding

PCS has processes in place to detect and assess and report matters of safeguarding, supported by training for all staff in identifying such situations in line with guidance from the intercollegiate document. There are lead staff for both adult and child safeguarding for the organisation overall and more directly in each of our practices. Clinical staff are fully aware of requirements under the mental capacity act.

Our strategic reports