In the wake of COVID and the flood of problems and challenges that came with it, councils and public services providers, including Social Care and Housing, were suddenly forced to think fast and act faster. The ability to react to change and adjust work patterns at speed became more crucial than ever, but that vital speed simply couldn’t be allowed to come at the cost of quality assurance.

It is time to change...

Fire Services, like every other public service, are dealing with a world of unprecedented, unexpected and unplanned changes. We need to be able to adjust, re-think and execute plans more quickly and more frequently than ever before.

The COVID crisis has driven acceptance of some significant cultural changes in Health. Previously resisted, but forced through because of the crisis, the benefits are transparent and countrywide in nearly every setting.

Assurance is a vital aspect of governance within an NHS Organisation. Boards need to ensure that their organisations can deliver the financial sustainability and quality care that they declare within their annual governance statement, be this business as usual or mid crisis. 

It is well known that it is vital to have effective assurance systems in place to ensure that reality is not distorted from ward to board. However with increasing pressures on the NHS, regular and continued organisational change and the need for constant innovation what does an effective assurance system look like in 2020?