The importance of having a robust governance structure in place for your EDMS programme cannot be overstated. It is recommended that the following groups are either established or built upon existing groups/committees that may already exist.
EDMS Project Board
A Project Board must be appointed to oversee the EDMS programme. Primary responsibilities:
- Advise Project Executive
- Ensure that the business case remains viable
- Represent the interests of all users
- Take responsibility for ensuring that the appropriate quality assurances are in place
- Ensure that all human factors are properly taken into account
- Resolve user requirements and any conflict over priorities
- Arbitrate over any business, user and technical conflicts
- Monitor the technical and change management aspects of the project
- Deliver the project according to key plans and milestones
- Sign off all plans and deliverables
The project board has executive responsibility for the project. It will take the overall decisions about whether the project is delivering against the business case, to agreed standards, and provide guidance on future project direction. Project Board meetings should be held on an “as required” basis, linked to key milestones, at which the project manager(s) will report progress.
Clinical Advisory Group (CAG)
The most significant risk faced by any EMR programme is that the solution will fail to deliver a service that is acceptable to the clinical community. Creating a well-represented reference group who are available for consultation on key decisions is an invaluable way of cultivating clinical engagement.
This group comprises clinical staff nominated by Clinical Directors across the specialities and will be chaired by the designated Clinical Chief Information Officer (CCIO). A high proportion of the work undertaken on an EDMS programme will be concerned with the generation of policy and design concepts which are to be tested and evaluated from the clinical, managerial, technical and commercial/economic points of view. The role of the CAG is to review and agree policy and designs concepts as required.
Other Hospital Committees
The following committees will almost certainly exist within your organisation and should be consulted at various stages in the project:
- Information Governance Group
- Health Records Committee
- Patient Safety Group
- Nursing Committee
