In 2021-22, we saw an increase in sentinel events related to patient deterioration, particularly in children and young people. In response, we proactively brought together more than 100 health care leaders, clinicians, patients, and families to consider how we might improve the safety and quality of care for children accessing emergency healthcare in Victoria.
This resulted in three key recommended actions:
We have updated our Communicating Safe Eating and Drinking guidance. This guidance supports clinicians and health service staff to clearly communicate the risks and care needs of patients who have difficulty eating, drinking or swallowing.
We are progressing the development of the My maternity journey resource, one of the recommendations of the Victorian Maternity Taskforce.
The Victorian Medicines Formulary (the Formulary) webpage is now live.
Safer Care Victoria
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Leon Baranowski (MSc, MEd, CHE, SFHEA MACPara) as Victoria’s new Chief Paramedic Officer, commencing 23 March 2026.
Leon is an experienced paramedic whose career spans the United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. He brings a breadth of international expertise across clinical practice, leadership, academia, and research, along with a strong commitment to improving patient experiences, outcomes, and models of care.
We are running a short listening survey to inform the early phase of the Strateg
The Strategic Ethics Reform Project aims to strengthen how human research ethics is managed in Victoria.
This independent work supports national efforts to introduce quality standards and an accreditation scheme for Human Research Ethics Committees (HRECs) and the institutions that host them.
Since launching the Sustainable and Quality use of Diagnostics in Emergency Departments (SQuDs-ED) project in April 2025, we have worked with 11 health services to actively test and implement improvements across 19 emergency departments in regional Victorian and metropolitan Melbourne.