Resources

Health is a broad concept, influenced by a range of determinants – psycho-social, environmental, cultural, spiritual (for example). Any care or services can impact a person’s health.  Therefore, the concept of clinical governance (which aspires to achieve optimal health outcomes - and therefore quality of living) is as relevant to home care as it is to residential aged care, despite different contexts and priorities. This article dives into building a clinical governance framework that takes direction from the Revised Aged Care Quality Standards (Strengthened Quality Standards), as it relates to aged and home care.

This systematic review aims to evaluate the impact of accreditation on quality improvement in healthcare services and to understand the contextual factors influencing its implementation.

In his 1993 book, Managing at the Speed of Change, Daryl Connor wrote about the 1988 North Sea Piper Alpha oil rig fire – a fatal explosion of an oil drilling platform in which one survivor had to choose to jump into a sea of burning oil rather than burn on the platform. He coined the term “burning platform” as a metaphor to explain the necessity of change despite the fear of the unknown consequences. For healthcare, this metaphor aligns nicely to describe the introduction of short-notice assessments.

Here is a list of resources to help frontline clinicians become accreditation-ready every day.

Here is a list of resources to help managers and senior leaders help their teams become accreditation-ready every day.

Start with your clinical governance framework. Dr Sue Sinni, RN, RM shared her insights and useful tools in preparing for and assessing short-notice accreditation. 

Health and social care standards have been widely adopted as a quality improvement intervention. Standards are typically made up of evidence-based statements that describe high-quality care as an outcome or process of care delivery. They involve stakeholders at multiple levels and multiple activities across diverse services. It’s not difficult to see why many problems challenge effective implementation. Getting people on board is hard. Staff see standards as ‘extra work’. Quality managers and clinicians may be at odds, both with different agendas. Line managers may see accreditation as the quality manager’s job, rather than as part of their responsibility for meeting standards of care. Everyone may be doing their best, but there are many barriers to success.

There are many documented benefits of accreditation. These include driving the establishment of organisational structures and processes, promotion of a quality and safety culture, and improvement in care.  Organisational benefits in terms of effectiveness, efficiency, and integration of health services, innovation, support for evidence-based decision-making, and increased stakeholder engagement, have also been discussed in the literature. 

This aged care reform roadmap provides an indicative timeline for key reform elements.

Clinical Excellence Queensland have developed these audit tools to support health services in achieving and surpassing the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) standards.