Specimen role and responsibilities: NHS clinical commissioning group head of governance
Clinicians lead commissioning decisions. The CCG is its member practices; the members are the authority and appoint governing body members. Each CCG can exercise a degree of freedom as to how and where decisions are made regarding the commissioning of healthcare for their local populations – some CCGs will delegate that power to the governing body, others will delegate it to a different committee.
‘A sound understanding of governance from practical, compliance and structural perspectives is essential for efficacy within the boardroom and within the organisation; someone has to be the lynchpin, someone has to hold the morass of requirements together and thus an efficient professional secretariat role is required.’
The NHS CCG head of governance has a significant role to play in the administration of corporate governance. In particular, the head of governance would normally be expected to:
- ensure good information flows within the CCG membership, the governing body, other committees, senior managers and any locality arrangements;
- ensure that governing body and decision-making procedures are complied with;
- advise the CCG, its governing body and other committees on all governance matters;
- be available to give advice and support to individual governing body and committee members, particularly in relation to the induction of new members and assistance with professional development activities, including the performance evaluation exercise.