DHF Annual Report 2009 - NT Health Digital Library - Northern ...

Safety, Quality and AccountabilityOptimising safety and quality is the essentialfoundation for the effective delivery of servicestargeting the health, community wellbeing andsocial advancement of all Territorians. TheDepartment is committed to developing anddelivering a system of services that is underpinnedby cultural security, safety and quality which isaccountable in a meaningful way to the community.This applies to the whole Departmental workforceand the services they deliver, including thoseservices provided through agreements with thenon-government sector.We delivered in 2009-10We have collaborated with relevant agenciesto ensure that health and family servicesneeds are appropriately included in theplanning and implementation of TerritoryGrowth Town initiatives.Key focus areasDemonstrating our organisation’s commitment to achievingculturally secure services through implementing andmonitoring effective organisational, system-wide and staffimplemented practices.Establishing a Safety and Quality Framework consistentwith the national reform agenda, which is based on theimperative to improve care and service delivery andthereby reduce harm. The major tools of safety andquality-driven reform are derived from new understandingsof incident analysis, business improvement practice andchange management.Developing and employing research, knowledge exchangeprocesses, performance monitoring and reporting to informand continuously improve both planning and practices.Northern Territory Aboriginal Health Forum partners have developed a Framework that establishes aplatform for greater levels of community involvement and engagement in the design, development andimplementation of health services to Aboriginal Territorians.Five Regional Cultural Security Negotiation Sessions across the Department and about 50 CommunityConsultations were concluded. The information gathered is being used to build a program of reform thattackles and prioritises those issues to be integrated with our service delivery.The Department is leading a joint National Advisory Group on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HealthNetwork (NATSIHON) project that will develop a consolidated set of core measures of Cultural Competencein health and wellbeing service delivery at the organisational, systemic and individual staff levels.The Department of Health and Families, the Department of Business and Employment and the Graduate‘Aboriginal Cross Cultural Training in the Northern Territory Public Service’. New training courses based onthis work have been established and offered to the Northern Territory Public Service.The draft Departmental Safety and Quality Framework is in the consultation process.The Principal Safety and Quality Committee (PSQC) with Departmental-wide Executive membership thatoperates to advise on Territory and national safety and quality initiatives has been established.The Safety and Quality Advisory Service was established to provide PSQC with technical and logisticalsupport in introducing Departmental strategies to align with national safety and quality standards.Safety and quality induction information sessions were provided to 200 clinical staff through the Department’sstaff orientation program.The Departmental Risk Management Policy has been updated and a Risk Management Frameworkdeveloped and implemented. All divisions now have a risk management assessment related to theirbusiness plans. The RiskMan software program, facilitating the recording of risks and risk management,has been implemented in most hospitals and in Mental Health and planning has commenced to introducethis program across the Department.The Northern Territory Public Hospital Network implemented the Australian Charter of HealthcareRights devised by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare in 2009. The Charterdescribes the rights of patients and other people using the Australian health system. These rights are42Department Health and Families