Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13 - Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital

98 4. Our Governance
Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Foundation Trust
Annual Report and Accounts 2012/13
Quality Governance Reporting
We have put in place a rigorous
approach to governing the quality
of our services. More details about
these arrangements are included in
our Quality Report (see page 58) –
which is a sub-section within the main
Annual Report as well as in the Annual
Governance Statement (see page 88).
There are no material inconsistencies
between the Annual Governance
Statement, Board statements required
by the Compliance Framework, the
Quality Report and Annual Report. The
Board, through its sub-committees,
regularly reviews the effectiveness of
the Trust's system of internal controls.
Board Assurance Framework
The Board Assurance Framework (BAF)
is a Board-owned document whose
primary role is to inform the Board
about the totality of risks or obstacles
that may impede it from achieving
its strategic objectives as outlined
in the Trust’s long-term Strategy
document. The BAF also provides
assurances that adequate controls
are operating to reduce these risks to
acceptable levels. Over the past twelve
to eighteen months the BAF has been
on an evolutionary journey, in parallel
with the redevelopment of the wider
governance arrangements within the
Trust. A review of the BAF by Internal
Audit, undertaken in March 2013,
has declared: ‘Overall we are of the
opinion that the redesigned BAF is fit
for purpose’. Since that opinion, some
further work has been undertaken to
enhance the working of the BAF and
to ensure it remains a living document
which informs the Board agenda.
Regulatory ratings/CQC reports
and response
Monitor assesses the performance
of the Trust using Key Performance
Indicators, designated as
Regulatory Ratings. There are two
ratings:
• Financial Risk Rating assessed on a
scale from 1 (high risk) to 5
(low risk).
• Governance assessed on a scale of
green/amber-green/amber-red.
Deriving the financial risk rating
The financial risk rating is weighted
average of financial criteria scores,
which are:
• Achievement of plan
• Underlying performance
• Financial efficiency
• Liquidity
Deriving the governance risk
rating
Monitor includes the following
elements within the governance
risk rating:
• Service performance
• Third party reports
• Failures to comply with board
statements
• Annual Plan