This year we began expanding the Safewards model from mental health into general health settings. To support this we are developing a resource guide and video tools to help health services implement the model effectively.
Safety culture is an organisational culture that places a high level of importance on safety beliefs, values, attitudes, and practices. A powerful predictor of patient harm, it plays a pivotal role in shaping the quality of care in healthcare systems.
We are developing a guideline to enable Victorian health services (specifically Board and executives) to better understand and improve safety culture within their organisation.
Our Just Culture resources support health services to strengthen their safety culture and improve patient experiences and outcomes.
Just Culture is part of a safety culture that applies a systems perspective when developing organisational processes, including the review of adverse patient safety events. It enables a workplace where employees feel safe to report adverse patient safety events. It promotes the concept of shared accountability between the organisation and the people in the system, supporting a fair (‘just’) approach.
Falls remain a serious threat to patients in the health system. In 2019-20, there were 25 sentinel events reported to Safer Care Victoria (SCV) that were directly attributed to falls. We’re committed to improving outcomes from falls adverse event reviews.