Professional News 2006

June 2006

Nurses show leadership by demonstrating a committment to sound governance

Until recently, governance was a term seen only on the business pages of newspapers. That is, until HIH, One-Tel, and more recently AWB, entered the nation’s consciousness, and the importance of sound governance got up close and personal for many Australians in health care, governance is usually discussed in terms of clinical governance. Clinical governance generally refers to the processes associated with monitoring quality and striving for continuous improvement in clinical care, itself a vital topic, and one that certainly intersects with the broader, more generic, governance of organisations. This broader type of governance refers to the way in which an entire organisation and its resources are managed, with regard to principles such as, accountability, transparency, stewardship, leadership, integrity, legality, efficiency and social responsibility. While it may be like good plumbing (you don’t notice it until something goes wrong) sound governance nevertheless underpins the successful functioning of organisations representing health professionals and the consumers of their services.

Many health professionals would be aware of the essential principles of sound governance practice. However, few resources exist to guide the practice of organisations representing the interests of these groups.

That is, until now.

The National Nursing Organisations (NNOs) are a network of 52 specialist professional nursing associations. The ANF acts as secretariat for the NNOs. The NNOs, have just completed a project, funded by N³ET, the National Nursing and Nursing Education Taskforce, to develop a set of sound governance standards as an organisational guide for nursing and midwifery specialist organisations.

These standards are intended to guide governance in its most generic sense. They contain criteria to assist in the development of specific processes, but are also broad enough to encompass the diverse nature and purpose of nursing and midwifery organisations.

These standards can assist organisations with well established systems to benchmark their governance practice; or act as a guide to practice for newer, less established, organisations.

This is exciting! Nurses leading the way; setting an example for all professions; and providing a product that may guide the practice of other health professional groups. Not all professional groups have a history of achieving sound governance. The ACCC recently brought some groups to account for inadequate stakeholder consultation and a lack of transparency in their processes.

These standards are the product of collaboration and provide an opportunity for nursing and midwifery to show leadership by demonstrating a commitment to sound governance, to work collaboratively to produce a guide to help our profession.

Fiona Armstrong
ANF Professional Officer