Good governance during Covid gives pointers to the future

In a report, the audit body said Covid meant organisations had to govern differently, changing how they planned, operated and managed their resources. The report, Doing it differently, doing it right?, said the NHS operated effectively, acted quickly, and with common purpose to establish lean ways of working, achieve transformation and maintain focus on core areas of business and governance.

Changes included standing down some committees, streamlining agendas, and introducing more focused reporting, including more verbal reports.

These new ways of working have ensured NHS organisations can: hold efficient and effective board meetings; focus on essential business and Covid-19; maintain transparency through online meetings; ensure public engagement; and make decisions more rapidly.

While these changes were designed to deliver good governance during the pandemic, they could also be beneficial post-pandemic, Audit Wales said. Changes that could be adopted in the longer term included:

• Virtual meetings – these have proved to be an efficient and effective way of working, and can enhance transparency.
• Effective and efficient meetings – new ways of working can ensure meetings continue to be as effective and efficient as possible.
• Agile decision-making – this can facilitate ongoing innovation, transformation and learning.
• Enhanced communication – new methods of communication could be maintained or, where possible, enhanced to sustain collaboration, partnership working, and public engagement.

Entering the post-pandemic world could also be a time for organisations to review and reshape their strategies, and redesign governance structures to provide more integrated assurance to boards and committees.

The report is the first of two from the audit body's structured assessment work at NHS bodies, giving an all-Wales summary.

Auditor general Adrian Crompton (pictured above) said: ‘In times of crisis, the challenge for all public bodies is to adapt their governance systems, processes, and structures to ensure good governance is maintained. Indeed, it could be argued that maintaining good governance is more necessary than ever during a time of crisis.

‘I have been assured that NHS bodies have largely maintained good governance throughout the crisis, with revised arrangements enabling them to govern in a lean, agile, and rigorous manner.’

And he added: ‘The challenge now for each individual body is to fully evaluate their new ways of working, consider the opportunities outlined in this report, and maintain the sense of urgency and common purpose created during the crisis to establish and embed new approaches to governance in a post-pandemic world.’

• The HFMA has updated its Covid-19 guidance map, which brings together key documents for NHS finance professionals as they respond to the pandemic. The map has six sections: financial arrangements; financial governance; annual accounts and annual report; fraud prevention; workforce; and further information on Covid-19 developments.