Executive Director Safety, Dr Andy Phillips, has worked for the past 37 years as a healthcare leader in 6 countries. Before Safer Care Victoria, Andy was seconded to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Health New Zealand to write the first national health plan for New Zealand and to provide clinical support for the development and implementation of health system values and behaviours.
Karrie is a visionary nursing leader with nearly 20 years’ experience driving health delivery innovation to ensure safer and more effective patient care. As Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, she provides professional leadership, advice and direction to the sector, drawing on a unique set of skills acquired across all aspects and levels of nursing, including regional and metropolitan health settings and academia.
The Mental Health Improvement Program (MHIP) is establishing the MHIP community to:
Reducing compulsory treatment was a key recommendation of the 2021 Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System.
The framework aims to improve the pathway of care for individuals experiencing suicidal thoughts and behaviours and support their families, carers and supporters. It also builds workplace culture and workforce capability and confidence to support optimal care.
The MHIP partners with clinical and non-clinical workforce teams to design and test improvements that:
In 2022-23, Safer Care Victoria worked with Albury Wodonga Health, Albury Wodonga Private Hospital and Insight Private Hospital to contact around 2,000 patients who had a colonoscopy performed in the region since 1 January 2018.
An investigation had found that some colonoscopies performed in the region were incomplete, which may have affected the accuracy of the resulting diagnoses.
Many affected patients underwent a repeat colonoscopy as a precautionary measure.
The Duty of candour is a new legislative requirement for Victorian health services, which came into effect on 30 November 2022.
The Duty of candour builds on existing elements of open disclosure as outlined in the Australian Open Disclosure Framework and encourages open, honest communication when a patient has suffered a serious adverse patient safety event while receiving care.
Sometimes things go wrong in healthcare, which can result in a patient being harmed. In these cases it’s important for the health service to:
Learning from these events is a powerful tool to prevent harm going forward.
This page provides information on Safer Care Victoria’s role and the actions health services take when things have gone seriously wrong with patient care.
Safer Care Victoria was recently notified of 5 adverse events where incorrect tubing had been connected to a mechanical infusion pump, resulting in an anaesthetic agent being administered at a higher rate than intended.
Poor design of tube labelling and lack of other system-based safety guards likely contributed to these adverse events.