Taking it on trust examines how the boards of NHS trusts and foundation trusts in England assure themselves that internal controls are in place and operating effectively.
The report finds that:
- board assurance processes are generally in place to guard against risks but must be rigorously applied
- board members are not always challenging enough
- the data received by boards is not always relevant, timely or fit for purpose
The report includes recommendations for the Department of Health, Monitor and the NHS Appointments Commission, as well as NHS trusts and foundation trusts.
We have also produced a separate briefing, figures you can trust, which reviews current data quality programmes and looks in further detail at how boards assure themselves about the quality of their data.