Page 1980 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 5 June 2018
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notepads have been distributed across the organisation. At the CHHS staff forum last month, which I mentioned earlier, there was also a focus on ISBAR and safe clinical handover.
A further reminder for staff is being developed with posters to be placed in all work areas. Finally, an escalation process for non-compliant wards and areas has been developed, including formal engagement with the Deputy Director-General, CHHS to discuss standards and expectations with staff and their management teams.
The ACHS also raised concerns about the completion rates for inpatient discharge summaries. It is important that discharge summaries are completed within 48 hours so that patient care in the community can be continued after discharge. Regrettably, CHHS completion rates have been below this target of completion within 48 hours, potentially impacting continuity of care. The directorate has undertaken a large amount of work to address the backlog of incomplete discharge summaries. It is anticipated that the backlog will be complete by the end of June this year.
Unfortunately, a complicating factor in the completion of mental health discharge summaries is that the mental health electronic record system has limited interface with other systems. This significantly slowed their processing. The staff in the adult mental health unit deserve a particular mention here. These staff have worked hard to complete all of those discharge summaries that were outstanding when the ACHS visited in March.
A temporary workaround has been established which has enabled specialists to record discharge summaries in the clinical portal, thus allowing them to be transmitted in real time to GPs, which is vital for these patients to receive ongoing care in the community. A more permanent solution is currently being tested.
As I mentioned earlier, ACT Health is also conducting a comprehensive review and analysis of its processes for completing discharge summaries. It will implement the required changes needed to reach the organisation’s 48 hours post-inpatient discharge compliance level on a sustainable basis.
Considerable work has taken place. So far it has included detailed compliance audits, mapping of processes, including the identification of gaps and shortfalls, focused training of medical officers in the functionality of the clinical portal and developing digital solutions to enable integration of programs into the clinical portal to decrease barriers.
Madam Speaker, as you have heard, an enormous amount of work has been done across the ACT Health directorate to achieve re-accreditation. It is a responsibility of all staff to ensure the necessary improvements are made. I welcome the positive approach of staff to deliver what is required. The interim director-general continues to chair weekly meetings of the national standards leadership committee; so accreditation is being managed at the highest levels of ACT Health.
An action plan is in place to ensure that ACT Health addresses the 33 core not-met criteria. Progress is closely scrutinised on a daily basis. Closer to the clinical local
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