10th March, 2010, Newbury, UK. In its response to The Francis Report, eShare flags technology as an essential element to enable NHS Trusts to most effectively, and efficiently, implement the recommendations through effective board governance.
In February, Robert Francis QC published his Inquiry Report on the Mid-Staffordshire NHS FT, which highlights the importance of board governance structures, board assurance processes and risk registers being actively followed, as well as Trust boards having all the relevant knowledge and expertise. eShare stresses that technology plays a crucial role in enabling the governance recommendations within the report to deliver against the goal of making a difference to all NHS Trusts.
Board governance software, such as eShare, provides a collaborative workspace for actively managing board governance, board assurance, the risk register and to record and manage professional development of the Trust board.
“Many Trusts are desperately attempting to develop their own technology solutions at huge cost and/or with limited resources” says Alister Esam, CEO of eShare. “Largely ‘out of the box’ board governance software is available off the shelf with a proven ROI and this can very quickly help Trusts meet the recommendations of The Francis Report.”
Board governance technology is starting to be embraced by many NHS Trusts; however most are now looking at or managing board governance manually with the use of physical files, spreadsheets and email. These governance practices are less adequate and more inefficient than purpose-developed technology. Adoption of secure, centrally accessible board governance tools is essential in ensuring Trust Boards are best equipped to be most effective, whilst also minimising the associated back-office administration, and therefore costs and hence also satisfying the NHS Operating Framework 2010.
“It is often perceived that board governance software would add an unnecessary burden to Trusts in terms of cost or administration” says Esam, “However, it is in fact relatively inexpensive and pays for itself many times over though significantly reducing the administrative burden typically associated with Trust governance.”
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