August 12, 2021

Accreditation resumes from Tuesday

Northern Health’s Accreditation resumes next week on Tuesday, 17 August, and will last until Thursday afternoon, 19 August 2021.

Maree Glynn, Director of Clinical Practice Improvement, explained that, this time, we will have three Victorian surveyors onsite who were not part of the original survey team and two surveyors will conduct the assessment virtually, including our lead surveyor, Wendy Wood.

“The campuses that will be visited in this round are Northern Hospital Epping, Broadmeadows Hospital and Craigieburn Centre. All of our clinical areas that were not visited in May will be visited and areas completed in May will not be re-visited. For example, they won’t be going to Bundoora Centre during this visit. The surveyors who were part of the original team in May have written up their report and they will share this information, so that the new surveyors can take over and complete the work,” she explained.

A timetable has been distributed to the Senior Leadership and Nurse Unit Mangers, highlighting the areas the surveyors will visit in these three days. People who need to be present at the meetings and rounds will also receive a calendar invite for their area.

“If a surveyor is visiting your area, it is important that you look at the Standard that the surveyor is surveying against. For example, one of the surveyors has Standard 2 and Standard 6, so those two Standards will be a strong focus of that visit. That is why it is essential to check the timetable,” she explained.

Given the positive feedback received so far, Maree is optimistic about the upcoming assessment outcomes.

“The feedback in May, after two days of surveying, was very positive, as we had meetings with the Executive at the end of each Accreditation day. The surveyors hadn’t found anything they had any concerns about or risks to raise with the Chief Executive,” Maree explained.

“As long as we present as well as we can, engage and talk with the surveyors about the work we do every day, everything will go well. An assessment is really about our everyday work, what we do and how well we do it. This is an opportunity to showcase the really good things we are doing. If there is something you feel that should be highlighted, maybe make some notes on a piece of paper so you don’t forget to talk about that,” Maree advised.

Dr Bill Shearer, Executive Director Quality, Safety and Transformation added: “We have all done the work necessary for a survey visit. Furthermore, we have ensured that the work is part of how we do business every day. This is our opportunity to show that we are really Accreditation ready any time.”

After the visit is completed on Thursday afternoon, there will be a briefing to the Executive and then a Summation will be provided by the Survey team and will be communicated to all staff, before the surveyors leave Northern Health.