Ren Ci (“the Organisation”) recognises the importance of having a well-defined corporate governance system and processes, and is fully committed to upholding high standards of transparency and accountability within the Organisation to our stakeholders.
The Board has established Sub-Committees, each chaired by its Board members to assist in the execution of its responsibilities. The eight Sub-Committees are:
• Audit Committee
• Building Committee
• Community Engagement Committee
• Governance & Risk Committee
• Human Resource Committee
• Investment Committee
• Medical Advisory Committee
• Nominating Committee
The activities of each of the Sub-Committees during the financial year are as follows:
Audit Committee
The Audit Committee (“AC”) has carried out the functions of an audit committee as specified in the terms of reference, approved by the Board of Directors. In carrying out its functions, the AC reviewed the overall scope of both the external and internal audits and met with the auditors to discuss the results of their examinations and their evaluation of the Hospital’s system of internal controls. The AC also reviewed the financial statements of the Hospital.
During the last financial year, the Hospital has established a control self-assessment (“CSA”) framework, which is an initiative by the Hospital to strengthen internal control processes, create a stronger awareness of risk practices and establish a clearer line of accountability for controls.
The ongoing CSA process reviews were delayed during the financial year as the AC noted in March 2020 that the hospital had to channel its resources to handle the COVID-19 pandemic. In September 2020, the hospital continued the outstanding CSA process reviews according to staggered revised timelines. In February 2021, the internal auditor Ernst & Young Advisory Pte Ltd (“EY”) developed, completed and validated the Inventory Management process review. The results of the CSA validation were discussed and shared with the AC.
Over the course of the last two financial years, the Hospital has developed and completed the CSA questionnaires on five out of seven key processes, and EY has validated all the questionnaires under the completed key processes.
In addition, during the financial year, EY performed an audit on the hospital’s network security. The results of the review were shared and discussed with the AC.
The AC, and together with IT Steering Committee and Board, ensured that the network security findings were progressively resolved from a monitoring perspective with regular updates from IT Department on the progress of the implementation of the recommended action plans.
Building Committee
The Building Committee reviewed and endorsed the contract for the provision of electricity supply from the Open Electricity Market for Ren Ci Hospital. The Committee provided guidance on the approach for carrying out the Cyclical Maintenance Works in Ren Ci Community Hospital (RCCH). The Committee also provided guidance for handling the M&E maintenance issues in RCCH building
Community Engagement Committee
The Community Engagement Committee carried out oversight of the various fundraising initiatives and management and development of volunteers. The Committee also reviewed key corporate collaterals such as the annual report. During the pandemic year, the Committee endorsed the cancellation of physical fundraising activities and supported the move to virtual fundraising as well as virtual volunteering activities.
Governance & Risk Committee
The Governance & Risk Committee reviewed the policies on [Documentation] and [Board Renewal and Performance Evaluation] to ensure that they remain relevant to support a strong governance and enhance the operating performance and efficiencies of the organisation.
The Committee also provided guidance over the development of a new policy on [Data Classification and Management] for enhancing the efforts in safeguarding of data, as well as endorsed the Governance Statement and the online governance evaluation submitted to the Charity Portal for which all areas in the checklist were met.
In 2019, the Charity Council refined the Charity Transparency Framework to enhance its relevance and alignment to the Code of Governance issued in 2017. Therefore, Charity Transparency Award took a hiatus in 2020 and 2021 and will resume in 2022. In the meantime, the Committee reviewed the changes to the Framework and endorsed the implementation approach.
Human Resource Committee
The Human Resource Committee reviewed human resources policies and processes, and aligned some of the best practices from the sector. The Committee reviewed and endorsed the remuneration adjustments and bonus pay out on annual basis. To further enhance talent attraction and retention, the Committee reviewed and endorsed Management’s proposal for benchmarking of salary structure initiatives and market adjustments for all family groups.
As part of leadership development, the committee endorsed Management’s update on the Succession Planning and Development for critical positions in the organisation.
Investment Committee
During the year, the Investment Committee, which was appointed by the Board, has provided guidance and feedback on matters relating to investments and investment policies for the Hospital.
The Investment Committee also evaluated the appointed fund managers’ strategies and assessed their performances on a quarterly basis to ensure the investment portfolios meet the overall investment objectives and guidelines of the Hospital.
Medical Advisory Committee
The Medical Advisory Committee reviewed patient care-related incidents and complaints with particular emphasis on recommendations for prevention and improvement. Besides review of the clinical quality indicators, the Committee provided valuable insights on the improvement of clinical practices and services as well as encouraged continuing collaboration with healthcare partners. Collaborative research projects with healthcare partners like TTSH were also reviewed to ensure safety and compliance to ethical standards.
Nominating Committee
As part of good governance and to voluntarily comply with the recommendations of the Charity Transparency Framework, the Nominating Committee complies with the Board renewal and Performance Evaluation policy which included the:
• Nomination and renewal of board every 2 years,
• Board skills matrix as part of succession planning,
• Orientation and induction within 2 months for new Board members, and
• Annual Board Self-Assessment exercise to gauge the effectiveness of the Board’s performance. The results were discussed at the subsequent Board meeting to identify areas of improvement.