Health Services Commissioner Annual Report 2000/2001

The Victorian Advisory Committee on Infection Control (VACIC) should continue to
address the issue of infection control orientation and on-going training of medical,
nursing and other staff groups within the public hospital system. This process could
include standardisation of course content, duration and quality processes which ensure
active involvement of all staff, particularly medical staff.
Consumers have a right to expect the achievement of world’s best practice in infection
control and prevention and the right to know if it is not being achieved, and the
reasons why. Publication of infection control risk adjusted data, for all procedures, is
recommended following a reasonable pilot period of adjustment.
PUBLIC INTEREST ISSUES
Complaints can indicate trends within the health care system that have implications
for the general public. Public interest is defined by the following criteria:
1. The circumstances outlined in the complaint are likely to affect a significant
number of people.
2. These circumstances impact on certain population groups.
3. The complaint is indicative of a systematic flaw, the result of a deficiency in
policy or procedures.
4. The complaint raises an issue that is individual in nature but that occurs
unreasonably often, suggesting that a systemic problem exists.
These criteria have been used to highlight complaints as they move through the
system so the public interest issue may be given appropriate attention in conjunction
with the individual’s complaint. A review of complaints so labelled has highlighted a
number of issues.
MEDICAL RECORDS
Most of the complaints received by the HSC contain failures of communication. The
Commissioner has concerns about the poor state of record keeping by many health
practitioners. The courts in Australia have made it clear in cases like Kite v Malycha
SASC 6702, 10 June 1998 that poor record keeping could be the basis of a medical
negligence claim. Frequently the writing is difficult to understand which has the
potential to cause further mistakes and to damage patients. Sometimes there are
serious omissions in medical records with doctors saying they are too busy to
complete the record. This places doctors at risk of medical negligence claims and the
patients may be harmed because valuable information is not available. Medical
practitioners need to take into account the fact that the Health Records Act 2001,
which will begin operation in March 2002, will grant patients a legal right of access to
information in records about them. The legislation also obliges organisations that
handle health information to do so in accordance with eleven privacy principles which
appear in the schedule to the Act. Good record keeping is part of good health care.
Some providers who counsel families adopt the risky practice of keeping one set of
Health Services Commissioner Annual Report 2000/2001 19