Styring og kontroll med kvalitet i helseforetak: med fokus på helseforetaksstyrets arbeid
Abstract
Background: The quality, quantity and funding of the public specialist health enterprises, are determined by Stortinget (parliament) and the Government. The ministry of health work out the specifics and pass the mission and order to the next level, the regional health enterprise, who allocates to the next level the underlying health enterprises with their hospitals, clinics and departments. The health enterprise is governed by a board and the executive manager (CEO?) This hierarchical organization implies that political decisions pass several levels of management before healthcare is eventually delivered when the professional meets the patient. Purpose and issue: My research was aimed at the quality governance of the health enterprise, focusing on the boards contribution my issues were: 1. How does the enterprise board work to ensure steering and control in quality matters? 2. Is there compliance between current laws, regulations, governing documents and procedures and the actual execution of the board’s task? 3. What value is added to the governance of quality in the health enterprise by the boards contribution? Data: summary of document study, field notes from three board meetings and results from a survey. Method: The research is designed as a case study. Unit of analysis is the board meeting, unit of examination was observation, documents and informants. Result: The board is mainly working according to current laws, regulations, governing documents and procedures There is a difference of opinion between groups of the board, whether the boards tasks of governance are carried out sufficiently. Conclusion: The board carries out the tasks in a manner which implies that Quality governance is according to current laws, regulations, governing documents and procedures. Whether the owner can be assured that this is carried out through the health enterprise is questionable, as I find that board members who are also health professionals in several of the questions about quality system elements imply that the boards tasks of governance is insufficient.