Compliance Pathway to Assurance
All organisations are expected to comply with regulatory guidelines, with some industries being more regulated than others. Our team have all worked in heavily regulated industries where assurance around daily compliance is crucial to management teams and Boards.
External regulatory inspections can occur with little or no notice and having that ongoing understanding and assurance that processes at all levels of the organisation adhere to guidelines and standards is key.
It is essential that staff on the ground understand their roles and responsibilities in the area of compliance and are aware of the requirements through clear organisational policies and procedures and ongoing internal compliance audits which are undertaken regularly and diligently.
Compliance Pathway to Assurance and the ‘Second Line of Defence’
Background
Our pathway has been designed to assist with the 2nd line of defence, providing senior management and boards with assurance around regulatory requirements and internal processes set out in organisational policies and procedures.
Whilst not providing a full independent review around risk management, standards and controls, compliance audits are an effective tool which compliments any CQC, HSE, Internal Audit and other inspections.
If implemented well and used across an organisation, compliance audits can assist with identifying emerging risks and issues on a timely basis so that; operational management can respond and mitigate.
Assurance around all areas of the business is important; this includes clinical, operational, financial, IT, HR and Health & Safety. Our pathway can be tailored to suit the organisation’s needs, covering any area.
Some questions to consider...
- How robust and effective are your oversight mechanisms?
- How do your audits link into your risks?
- Do your audits cover all policies and standards?
- Are the right people conducting the audits and are the actions allocated to individuals able to effect change?
- Does reporting provide the right information to management?
- Are you being curious about the 100% compliance compared with the lower compliance areas?
- Do you have a follow-up audit programme to ensure actions have been embedded with continuous improvement?
- Who is responsible for continually reviewing and updating audit programmes for changes in risks/ policies?
- How do you really know that audits are not just a tick box exercise?
- Would introducing peer reviews provide more assurance and share best practice?
What does our pathway to assurance look like?
Why choose Elsiarc to help you on your pathway?
- We have a combined experience of over 60 years in quality assurance, compliance, risk management and audit
- We have worked with all levels of an organisation from the individuals on the ground, delivering a service or responsible for the risk, to board members
- We are passionate about governance and assurance
- We are passionate about working with individuals so that they understand how their work can make a difference to the overall governance and assurance framework