Northern Health’s National Standards Accreditation

In May 2020, surveyors will assess Northern Health’s services against the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards in order to provide us with health service Accreditation.

The NSQHS Standards are a guide for us to achieve best practice when delivering health care, and provide a nationally consistent statement about the standard of care consumers can expect from their local health service. By achieving Accreditation, our community can have confidence that the care they receive at Northern Health is safe, of a high quality and meets national standards.

Commencing next Tuesday, 15 October, we will participate in a “mock” survey to help us prepare for Accreditation next year. We should be all familiar with the eight NSQHS Standards, which cover high prevalence adverse events, health care associated infections, medication safety, comprehensive care, clinical communication, the prevention and management of pressure injuries, the prevention of falls and responding to clinical deterioration.

The surveyors will spend four days visiting many wards and departments across our sites, asking questions and checking documentation, culminating in a feedback session on Friday afternoon.

Thank you to everyone involved in our standards committees for their ongoing work in ensuring quality improvement and compliance with standards.  A special thank you to Bill Shearer, Executive Director Transformation, Executive Sponsors and Chairs of the Standards Committees, Quality and Safety, Maree Glynn, Director of Clinical Practice Improvement, and the Quality team for their great work in helping us prepare for next week.

Research Week

We can all be proud of our growing research work showcased during this year’s Northern Health Research Week. It’s pleasing to see that our research spans across diverse clinical areas and health professions. The enthusiasm of our young researchers and the quality of their poster presentations displayed during the week has also been inspiring.

Well done to Professor Peter Brooks, Dr Michael Kirk, Brittany Szabo and Natali Cvetanovska for organising such a successful week of events.

I hope you all have a great week ahead.

Jane Poxon
Acting Chief Executive