Assurance

For several years now the National Health Service has undergone stringent external assurance audits of medical facilities and care provision.

The Armed Forces are no different and in 2009 the Royal Navy launched the Assurance Team, purposefully separated from the Healthcare Governance Team, to provide 1SL and the Surgeon General with a level of assurance for the care being provided across the Fleet to all entitled individuals no matter where they may be serving.

This is a team of four serving RN members who work out of Royal Navy Command in Portsmouth, in challenging posts which have also now fully encompassed the Care Quality Commissions (CQC) requirements in to the Defence Medical Services paperwork and processes.

Although the Armed Forces do not have to be externally audited by the CQC, unlike the NHS who do, the CQC have been invited in and will be providing external assurance to the Armed Forces late 2011/2012 as they review the Armed Forces care provision.

The Assurance processes in the Royal Navy uses Tri-Service paperwork and the teams which visit each facility on a two-year rolling programme use a peer review process and are made up of subject matter experts in current military clinical care and can include members from the other Services. All medical facilities across the Fleet are assured; land establishments, ships of all sizes and most recently on submarines. Assurance in the Royal Navy is ultimately a process-based system to protect the patients, minimise risk, and promote healthcare quality improvement. It provides 1SL and Surgeon General with the assurance that care is provided in a safe and effective manner, risk is identified and managed with associated quality improvement, this maximising the operational capability of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines.