Patient safety and quality

Cura Day Hospitals Group is committed to providing safe and high quality services, and all of our facilities maintain certification against the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards. All hospitals are accredited by a an industry recognised agency as being compliant with the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO 9001).

The primary aims of the NSQHS Standards are to protect the public from harm and to improve the quality of health service provision. They provide a quality assurance mechanism that tests whether relevant systems are in place to ensure minimum standards of safety and quality are met, and to ensure continuous improvement.

• Clinical Governance

  This describes the clinical governance, and safety and quality systems that are required to maintain and improve the reliability, safety and quality of health care, and improve health outcomes for patients.

  Leaders of a health service organisation have a responsibility to the community for continuous improvement of the safety and quality of their services, and ensuring that they are person centred, safe and effective.

  Intention of this standard: To implement a clinical governance framework that ensures that patients and consumers receive safe and high-quality health care.

• Partnering with Consumers

  This describes the systems and strategies to create a person-centred health system by including patients in shared decision making, to ensure that patients are partners in their own care, and that consumers are involved in the development and design of quality health care.

  Leaders of a health service organisation develop, implement and maintain systems to partner with consumers. These partnerships relate to the planning, design, delivery, measurement and evaluation of care. The workforce uses these systems to partner with consumers.

  Intention of this standard: To create an organisation in which there are mutually valuable outcomes by having:

  • Consumers as partners in planning, design, delivery, measurement and evaluation of systems and services
  • Patients as partners in their own care, to the extent that they choose.
• Preventing and Controlling Healthcare Associated Infection

  This describes the systems and strategies to prevent infection, to manage infections effectively when they occur, and to limit the development of antimicrobial resistance through prudent use of antimicrobials, as part of effective antimicrobial stewardship.

  Leaders of a health service organisation describe, implement and monitor systems to prevent, manage or control healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance, to reduce harm and achieve good health outcomes for patients. The workforce uses these systems.

  Intention of this standard: To reduce the risk of patients acquiring preventable healthcare-associated infections, effectively manage infections if they occur, and limit the development of antimicrobial resistance through prudent use of antimicrobials as part of antimicrobial stewardship.

• Medication Safety

  This describes the systems and strategies to ensure that clinicians safely prescribe, dispense and administer appropriate medicines to informed patients, and monitor use of the medicines.

  Leaders of a health service organisation describe, implement and monitor systems to reduce the occurrence of medication incidents, and improve the safety and quality of medication use. The workforce uses these systems.

  Intention of this standard: To ensure clinicians are competent to safely prescribe, dispense and administer appropriate medicines and to monitor medicine use. To ensure consumers are informed about medicines and understand their individual medicine needs and risks.

• Comprehensive Care

  This describes the integrated screening, assessment and risk identification processes for developing an individualised care plan, to prevent and minimise the risks of harm in identified areas.

  Leaders of a health service organisation set up and maintain systems and processes to support clinicians to deliver comprehensive care. They also set up and maintain systems to prevent and manage specific risks of harm to patients during the delivery of health care. The workforce uses the systems to deliver comprehensive care and manage risk.

  Intention of this standard: To ensure that patients receive comprehensive care – that is, coordinated delivery of the total health care required or requested by a patient. This care is aligned with the patient’s expressed goals of care and healthcare needs, considers the effect of the patient’s health issues on their life and wellbeing, and is clinically appropriate. To ensure that risks of harm for patients during health care are prevented and managed. Clinicians identify patients at risk of specific harm during health care by applying the screening and assessment processes required in this standard.

• Communicating for Safety

  This describes the systems and strategies for effective communication between patients, carers and families, multidisciplinary teams and clinicians, and across the health service organisation.

  Leaders of a health service organisation set up and maintain systems and processes to support effective communication with patients, carers and families; between multidisciplinary teams and clinicians; and across health service organisations. The workforce uses these systems to effectively communicate to ensure safety.

  Intention of this standard: To ensure timely, purpose-driven and effective communication and documentation that support continuous, coordinated and safe care for patients.

• Blood Management

  This describes the systems and strategies for the safe, appropriate, efficient and effective care of patients’ own blood, as well as other supplies of blood and blood products.

  Leaders of a health service organisation describe, implement and monitor systems to ensure the safe, appropriate, efficient and effective care of patients’ own blood, as well as other blood and blood products. The workforce uses the blood product safety systems.

  Intention of this standard: To identify risks, and put in place strategies, to ensure that a patient’s own blood is optimised and conserved, and that any blood and blood products the patient receives are appropriate and safe.

• Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration

  This describes the systems and processes to respond effectively to patients when their physical, mental or cognitive condition deteriorates.

  Leaders of a health service organisation set up and maintain systems for recognising and responding to acute deterioration. The workforce uses the recognition and response systems.

  Intention of this standard: To ensure that a person’s acute deterioration is recognised promptly and appropriate action is taken. Acute deterioration includes physiological changes, as well as acute changes in cognition and mental state.