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Vision
Every staff member of Wodonga Regional Health Service (WRHS) committed to and actively participating in the continuous improvement of care and services offered by WRHS.
Mission
The WRHS Board of Management is committed to the implementation of the Quality Program. The Program is designed to facilitate continuous improvement in the quality of patient care and delivery of services, consistent with the goals of the Health Service.
Goal
The goal of the Quality Program is to develop and maintain a comprehensive Program to monitor services and continually improve all activities and services provided to patients/clients.
Accreditation
WRHS is a fully accredited organisation through the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards, Evaluation and Quality Improvement Program.
Quality Program
The quality program at WRHS is aimed at improving the performance of the organisation through directing efforts in four main areas. These areas are:
- Individuals
- Teams
- Organisation
- Health Environment
Strategies are developed toward ensuring each of these groups are able to participate in and can demonstrate that they are continually improving.
Clinical Governance
WRHS ensures that quality care and services are provided through a clinical governance framework, which facilitates reporting on quality and risk management to the Executive and Board of Management. Performance monitoring occurs through a number of measures:
Risk Management
Risk Management is part of the broader Quality Program at WRHS. Risks are identified, minimised or eliminated through risk management systems. Risks might exists for patients, staff members or visitors to WRHS.
Adverse Event Monitoring
WRHS monitors those instances when something either has or might have gone wrong. Serious adverse events are analysed to determine appropriate systems issues. All adverse events are analysed and monitored to ensure that WRHS can take appropriate action where necessary.
Reporting to the Community
WRHS reports to the community on quality of care and services through its Annual Quality of Care Report. Copies of the report can be obtained by contacting the hospital on 60517111.
Clinical Indicators
Measure an aspect of care or treatment to ascertain a level of compliance, eg administration of cortico-steroids to pregnant women where premature labour occurs at less than 34 weeks gestation.
Performance Indicators
Measure areas of service delivery rather than care delivery. Some of the performance indicators that are monitored by WRHS are cleaning, financial and effective discharge performance indicators.
Medical Record Review
Medical records are reviewed for certain events such as in the event of a patient returning to the operating theatre within 7 days. These records are examined to detect whether there was a preventable occurrence that may have contributed to the event. If such an occurrence is noted changes are implemented to prevent recurrence of that event.
Satisfaction
WRHS monitors the level of patient satisfaction with inpatient care through the independent TQA patient satisfaction survey. WRHS has performed above average in all categories for the satisfaction survey since it began in 2000. Satisfaction surveys are also conducted through the Quality Program in a range of service areas and are a useful mechanism for improving services.
Complaints
The majority of feedback to WRHS is very positive, but we do get the occasional complaint. All written complaints are fully investigated and responded to. Verbal complaints are addressed by department heads and if unresolved maybe formalised. Analysis of complaints ensures that WRHS would be alerted if an unusual trend was noticed and action can be taken where necessary. WRHS forwards complaint analysis to the Victorian Health Services Commissioner.
Infection Control
The Quality program at Wodonga Regional Health Services includes the monitoring of infections which inevitably pass in and out of any health care facility. These must be kept in check, so with constant and astute efforts by the staff these are maintained at a minimum.
With mandatory Infection Control education at Wodonga Regional Health Services enviably low rates of infections, where tha origin might be traced to the point of direct patient care are recorded. The program is co-ordinated by a trained nurse in Infection Control.
