WA CTN Governance Committee

WA CTN Governance Committee

Terms of Reference

Vision

Building Training Capability

Purpose

The WA Clinical Training Network provides state-wide leadership and collaboration to ensure that the capacity for quality clinical training meets the supply needs of the Western Australian health workforce.

The WA CTN Governance Committee will provide and consolidate strategic cross-sectoral advice to:

1. facilitate the coordination, planning and management of quality clinical training across a number of health sectors, including public and non-public health providers, and education and training providers;
2. inform State priorities and WA CTN strategic directions including in Clinical Supervision and Simulated Learning; and
3. meet Commonwealth Department of Health contractual and reporting arrangements.

The WA CTN is hosted by the Department of Health, Western Australia. The Governance Committee provides strategic advice to the Department of Health to assist in the implementation and operation of the WA CTN.

Guiding Principles

• Service to the Community – Members will recognise that patient care is central to clinical education and the safety and quality of care of patients and communities is the highest priority.
• Accountability – Members will guide the use of available resources to achieve the maximum benefit for the Western Australian community. Decision making will be guided by the objective evidence / criteria which are available to network members and be free from bias toward any individual /organisation / sector.
• Future Focussed - Clinical education should contribute to the achieving a sustainable health workforce and ensure the students/trainees are exposed and contribute to innovation, evidence based practices and team based care.
• Transparency – Members will be conscious of competing interests and stakeholders will be informed of decisions.
• Respect – Members will act with honesty and integrity and will have a high regard for the perspective of all stakeholders in all interactions.
• Inclusiveness – Members will ensure that the diversity of stakeholders is recognised and balanced in decision making.

Proposed Membership (current total 25)

Membership will be up to 25 members and include representatives from the following sectors:

• Primary Health Network (peak body) x 1
• Private hospital representativex 1
• Area health services (WACHS, NMHS, SMHS, CAHS) x 4
• Higher education institutionsx up to 5
• Vocational Education & Training sector (peak body, urban, rural) x 3
• Commonwealth Department of Health x 1
• WA Health (Nursing & Midwifery, Medicine, Allied Health, Workforce) x 4
• Aged Care representative (peak body) x 1
• Aboriginal representativex 1
• Mental Health representative x 1
• Rural and remote representativesx 2
• Student Representative Groupx 1

Additional members may be included at the discretion of the Committee.

Selection of members

Wherever possible, representatives will be sought which represent the range of health professions and sectors. Senior executive level staff within each of the abovementioned organisations are invited to nominate an appropriate delegate to act as a stakeholder representative.

If there are multiple nominations for stakeholder representatives an election will be held to determine the representative member. Stakeholders within that sector will be eligible to vote for their preferred nominee.

The Chair shall be selected via nomination by the Governance Committee. If there are multiple nominations for the position of Chair, an election will be held, with all members of the Governance Committee eligible to vote.

The initial term of appointment for all positions, including Chair, is for 12 months, with a review after that time.

In the event that a Committee member resigns, the Chair will call for nominations for the position from the sector stakeholders, and if necessary, the WA CTN will arrange an election by the stakeholders in that sector.

Chair and Deputy Chair Responsibilities

The Chair and Deputy Chair of the WACTN will be nominated by members of WACTN on an annual basis at the start of each calendar year.

The Chair and Deputy Chair will hold their position for a maximum of twelve months.

In the absence of the Chair, the Deputy Chair will Chair run the meeting.

If neither the Chair nor the Deputy Chair is able or willing to preside at a meeting of the Committee, the Committee must elect a member of the Committee to be Acting Chair.

The Chair will:

• Encourage open communication where all members can contribute to discussions in accordance with the WACTN Principles.

• Work with WACTN appointed officers to compile a meeting Agenda.

• Ensure that projects are implemented consistent with WACTN Principles and Funding Agreements.

• Represent the WACTN as required including on the GNARTN Governing Council.

• Be the spokesperson for the WACTN and represent the collective view of the WACTN Governance Committee and recommendations of the group as required.

• Ensure that Conflicts of Interest are identified and managed in accordance with Terms of Reference.

The Deputy Chair will:

• To support the Chair in their role.

• To act in place of the Chair should the Chair be absent or have a conflict of interest.

Member responsibility

It is important that all sectors are represented appropriately and members attend all meetings. Proxies are not permitted without prior approval of the Chairperson. Where permitted, members are responsible for ensuring that their proxies have been briefed and are able to represent their sector.

Where a member is absent for more than three Committee meetings during the term, the Chair can move to seek an alternate member to represent that sector.

Meeting protocol

The meeting protocol is as follows:

a. Where deemed appropriate by the Chairperson, meetings of the WA CTN may be conducted either wholly or partly by:

• teleconference or other relevant communication technology between members situated in various locations, who shall all be counted as present for the purpose of establishing a quorum;
• correspondence from an absent member of the WA CTN tabled and considered by an otherwise properly constituted meeting of the WA CTN.

Such methods of meeting shall be alternatives to the normal protocol for conduct of meetings of the WA CTN.

b. Meetings are held quarterly. Special-purpose out-of-session meetings may be called to resolve issues outside the ordinary meeting schedule where required.

c. In the event a poll needs to be taken to reach a decision, each WA CTN Governance Committee member (or proxy) is allocated one vote. In the case of equal votes, the Chair is entitled to have the casting vote.

d. A quorum is half the total membership plus one.

e. Secretariat support will be provided by WA CTN Support Unit.

Record keeping

Records will be through minutes of meetings. The Chairperson is responsible for ensuring that minutes are kept of all meetings and that key decisions are communicated to Network members.

Conflict of Interest

In exercising a role as a member of the Governance Committee, members are advised to be cognisant of any potential or actual conflict of interest. A member who identifies a potential or actual conflict of interest is required to disclose the issue to the Chairperson of the Steering Group as soon as possible. The Chairperson reserves the right to request that the member excuse themselves from consideration of any issue in relation to which a potential or actual conflict of interest has been disclosed.

Commonwealth Department of Health reporting

The WA CTN Governance Committee is responsible for overseeing the 2015 Business Plans relating to the Multi-schedule Funding Agreement. These will include plans relating to the programs funded by Commonwealth Department of Health including the:

• Clinical Training Network
• Clinical Training Network Local Innovations Fund
• Clinical Supervision Skills Initiative
• Simulated Learning Environments Program

Progress reports submitted to Commonwealth Department of Health will be circulated to the Governance Committee.

Commencement date

These Terms of Reference are endorsed by the Governance Committee and effective April 2015.

Review date

The Terms of Reference will be reviewed in December 2015.

Signed: ______(Chair)

Date: ______