Risk Management (EFNLHN Annual Report 2020-21)

Risk and audit at a glance

EFNLHN’s Governing Board has an Audit and Risk Committee (A&RC) with an external independent Chair to provide advice and support to ensure the Board fulfills its responsibilities regarding risk management, audit and assurance.

The A&RC meets quarterly and considers emerging risks and the effectiveness of management of clinical and corporate risks at each meeting as well as reviews the LHN’s Risk Management Framework, management of risks, Internal Audit program and External Audit program annually. The A&RC receives audit reports conducted by the Auditor-General’s Department, Department for Health and Wellbeing (DHW), and Internal Audits by the internal audit function shared by the six regional Local Health Networks, based in the Rural Support Service (RSS). That function revised the Internal Audit Charter agreed by the six regional LHNs during the year, to reflect contemporary governance arrangements across those organisations. The Charter provides guidance and authority for audit activities.

EFNLHN records and reports on risks using an online tool, Risk Console. The LHN has updated the process of escalating and recording risks raised at site level in response to recommendations from the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards accreditation process, providing staff with specific guidance on context, identification, analysis, evaluation, treatment, monitoring and communication of risk.

The EFNLHN Governing Board reviews its Risk Appetite Statement (RAS) annually, and in 2020-21, revisited that Statement in light of the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Safety and Quality.

Fraud detected in the agency

NB: Fraud reported includes actual and reasonably suspected incidents of fraud.

Strategies implemented to control and prevent fraud

EFNLHN processes implemented to help control and prevent fraud include the following:

• Quarterly Audit and Risk Committee meetings to provide advice directly to the Governing Board about any instances of fraud reported to the Independent Commission Against Corruption and to the Department for Health and Wellbeing’s Risk and Audits Branch.
• Monthly reviews of organisational finances, financial management and performance by an operational (Tier 2) Finance and Performance Committee, chaired by the Chief Finance Officer, and reporting monthly to the Board’s Finance and Performance Committee.
• Annual review of Financial Controls Self-Assessment by the Audit and Risk Committee to ensure controls are in place to avoid fraud.
• Annual Declaration of Interests procedure and registers to monitor and report on Conflicts of Interest.
• Regular reporting by Shared Services SA to the EFNLHN Chief Finance Officer detailing any expenditure outside of procurement and approved delegations, reported to the Audit and Risk Committee and to the Board.

Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/eyre-and-far-north-local-health-network-efnlhn

Public interest disclosure

Number of occasions on which public interest information has been disclosed to a responsible officer of the agency under the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018:
0

Data for previous years is available at: https://data.sa.gov.au/data/dataset/eyre-and-far-north-local-health-network-efnlhn
Disclosure of public interest information was previously reported under the Whistleblowers Protection Act 1993 and repealed by the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2018 on 1/7/2019.