Based on the self-assessment reports received by the Commission, health services were able to demonstrate they were meeting the majority of the NSQHS Standards. Health services were also able to identify gaps and actions for improvement where they were unable to find evidence to demonstrate they were meeting a NSQHS Standard. For example, a total of 78% of health service organisations participating in the pilot of the initial five NSQHS Standards agreed that completing the tool assisted in identifying areas for improvement for their organisation. Other issues identified by health services and surveyors included: Services were not always able to provide documentation to support rating Acceptance of evidence, particularly policies and procedures that were developed at the service or corporate level, was inconsistent Inconsistent application of processes within a service Difficulty ensuring that policies, protocols and procedures are consistent with best practice guidelines Difficulty ensuring all tools had been appropriately validated A series of related tasks for an item impacts on a service’s ability to meet all the task under that item Feedback from the pilots assisted in identifying some ambiguity, overlap and duplication in the NSQHS Standards. Some terms and concepts also required clarification or explanation. These issues were addressed in subsequent revision and refinement of the NSQHS Standards and resulted in a reduction in the overall number of actions in some NSQHS Standards.
Based on the self-assessment reports received by the Commission, health services were able to demonstrate they were meeting the majority of the NSQHS Standards. Health services were also able to identify gaps and actions for improvement where they were unable to find evidence to demonstrate they were meeting a NSQHS Standard. For example, a total of 78% of health service organisations participating in the pilot of the initial five NSQHS Standards agreed that completing the tool assisted in identifying areas for improvement for their organisation. Other issues identified by health services and surveyors included: Services were not always able to provide documentation to support rating Acceptance of evidence, particularly policies and procedures that were developed at the service or corporate level, was inconsistent Inconsistent application of processes within a service Difficulty ensuring that policies, protocols and procedures are consistent with best practice guidelines Difficulty ensuring all tools had been appropriately validated A series of related tasks for an item impacts on a service’s ability to meet all the task under that item Feedback from the pilots assisted in identifying some ambiguity, overlap and duplication in the NSQHS Standards. Some terms and concepts also required clarification or explanation. These issues were addressed in subsequent revision and refinement of the NSQHS Standards and resulted in a reduction in the overall number of actions in some NSQHS Standards.
Development-of-the-National-Safety-and-Quality-Health-Service-Standards.docx