Document for PDF - Ministry of Health

a budget of $1.65 million (in addition to the $2
million allocated to investigate Gisborne
pathology services).
• Planning the implementation of the Health and
Disability Sector Standards.
• Developing evidence-based quality in hospitals.
• Developing quality improvement and
purchasing strategies for specific services
(particularly Pharmacies, WellChild, and
Maternity Services).
• Managing the investigation into cervical
screening/laboratory issues in Gisborne.
Sector Standards Being Developed
Issues
These standards will provide for assessment of
providers against a common set of safety and quality
requirements. We anticipate the standards will be
a legal requirement, initially applying to services
subject to licensing/regulation requirements
(mainly residential or in-patient/out-patient
hospital services).
Parts of the standards have significant short/
medium term cost implications, according to
providers (mainly hospitals). Cost implications are
likely, but there is insufficient information available
to enable us to estimate this accurately. Providers
state that the costs are in the tens of millions.
Personal Health’s Action
Providers have a contractual obligation to use 1999/
2000 as a year for planning, in turn we have
developed an evaluation programme. By May 2000
we will have comprehensive national information
about the current compliance of HHSs and the time/
resources required to achieve compliance.
This information will be fed into our sustainable
pricing projects, to ensure the cost of quality has
been adequately considered. We anticipate using
this approach to evaluate other providers, including
hospices and Children’s Health Camps.
We have been closely involved in the development
of the Sector Standards, and will continue to work
with the sector to develop the process for
credentialling designated agencies, and application
of the standards. It is essential these issues are
worked through in close consultation with all
affected parties in order to achieve the standards’
potential. We have arranged for a discussion
session with a Health and Disability Sector
Standards panel to be on the agenda of the Evidence
Based Quality Workshop (see quality improvement
activities in HHSs also).
Evidence Based Quality in HHSs
Issues
Consumer Assurance
Progressing the ability of HHSs to listen to the voice
of the consumers, using methods including:
• Consumer advisory groups.
• Customer satisfaction surveys.
• Complaints management.
Reducing Errors and Increasing Safety
• Development and improvement of healthcare
safety reporting systems.
• Providing for timely standardised reporting of
sentinel and adverse events to inform central
agencies and maintain public confidence.
Health and Disability Service Safety Standards
• Compliance by all HHSs completed before July
2002.
Infection Control
• Improvement in systems that protect patients
and healthcare workers.
Healthcare Workforce
• Workforce planning.
• Retention and recruitment.
• Clinical risk management.
• Credentialling systems.
Quality Oversight
• Making quality explicit - clear aims for
improvement, improving processes and
eliminating waste.
• Fostering evidence-based practice.
Advancing Quality Measurement
• Standardised measures to track healthcare
progress in clinical outcomes and indicators.
We have undertaken a substantial programme of
quality improvement activities with HHSs over the
past year, to articulate the quality imperatives for
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