Lancashire FT to pioneer HQIP board engagement matrix

9 June 2010 

Board-audit engagement tool to be officially unveiled at London event

Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust has become the first organisation to adopt HQIP's NHS Boards/Clinical Audit Engagement Matrix.

The tool takes the 10 key elements of Board-level engagement set out in HQIP's guidance and outlines how these can be achieved in practice, adding ‘acceptable' and ‘exemplar' descriptions against each.

The matrix is being officially launched at the second Boards Engagement & Clinical Audit event, in London on June 18 - a free event for Board-level delegates and audit leads accompanied by board membe­rs. More >>

The resource was borne out of a workshop at the Manchester launch event for HQIP's ‘Clinical Audit: A Simple Guide for NHS Boards & Partners' in April. The workshop - given by the guide's co-authors, Andrew Corbett Nolan and Dr John Bullivant of the Good Governance Institute - saw board member delegates and clinical audit leads gather to assess how best the Key Elements could be put into practice.

"After the HQIP event in Manchester, we saw the value in the maturity matrix to support our implementation, so much so we are exploring the approach in other areas," said Lancashire Care NHS Foundation Trust Audit Committee Chair Teresa Whittaker. "As Chair of the Audit Committee, I am particularly keen to expand the use of the maturity matrix approach to the development of clinical audit on the journey to meet the I.A. professional practice framework"

Professor Max Marshall, Medical Director at the FT added: "Following the work of HQIP in developing a clinical governance maturity matrix, we have produced a quality maturity matrix for the board. This has helped to organise the boards thoughts around a complex strategy and crystallised how to close the gap between our present level of quality assurance and the highest level we aspire to."

The second HQIP Board Engagement & Clinical Audit event takes place on 18 June at Mary Ward House in London. The free half-day session is for board-level delegates and clinical audit leads accompanied by board members.

Places are strictly limited, so interested parties should contact HQIP Development Officer Kim Rezel as soon as possible on 020 7469 2511 or via kim.rezel@hqip.org.uk.