ACHS NEWS - Australian Council on Healthcare Standards

<strong>ACHS</strong> news in brief
<strong>ACHS</strong> <strong>NEWS</strong> Issue 14 – Autumn 2005 • PAGE 4
<strong>ACHS</strong> News reaches
Federal, State and
Territory health ministers,
<strong>ACHS</strong> surveyors,
accredited <strong>ACHS</strong> member
organisations and other
stakeholders including
consumers and carers.
We value readers'
comments on issues and
items contained in this
publication – in
writing please, to:
The Editor,
<strong>ACHS</strong> News, <strong>ACHS</strong>,
5 Macarthur Street,
Ultimo, NSW 2007
Australia
or via email at
achs@achs.org.au
<strong>ACHS</strong>
<strong>ACHS</strong> Quality Improvement Awards 2005
Looking forward, we are pleased to announce the three categories for consideration in
preparing for the <strong>ACHS</strong> Quality Improvement Awards 2005.
The building blocks of quality clinical care. This category will look at projects and
programs that demonstrate improvements in the basic requirements of an organisation’s
capacity to provide high quality care. These include, but are not restricted to: documentation,
delineation of clinical privileges, safe work hours, clinical hand-overs, the use of data for
improvement, consumer focus and participation, teamwork and process re-engineering.
The appropriateness of healthcare. This category will look at projects and programs
that review whether the right care or service is being provided. Such projects and programs
will examine issues such as over-use and under-use of services and interventions eg surgical
utilisation rates, admission rates.
Non-clinical service delivery. This category will look at programs relating to
administrative processes and general customer service, for example, housekeeping,
HR management, engineering, info management, equipment, waste, catering. Note projects
which do not fit into the other categories should be submitted for the non-clinical service
delivery award.
The guidelines for submission, together with the application form have been distributed
to EQuIP Members, councillors and surveyors. Submission of applications will be take place
electronically this year. Please visit the <strong>ACHS</strong> website www.achs.org.au for further details.
PIRT/EAT workshops
Complimentary workshops aimed at
providing members with an overview
of the recently released Performance
Indicator Reporting Tool (PIRT) and the
Electronic Assessment Tool v3.5 (EAT) have
been held in all States with the exception of
Queensland and South Australia. The
workshops for the latter two States will be
conducted in March.
PIRT provides facilities for multi-users to
collect and submit their indicator data. In
addition, it allows importation of national
aggregated data and provides graphical
reporting. Future enhancements planned
include the development of a set of
performance indicators.
The changes in EAT are to the reporting
function and a number of enhancements
requested by users.
Clinician’s Guide
Such has been the demand for additional
copies of The <strong>ACHS</strong> Evaluation and
Quality Improvement Program (EQuIP) –
The Clinician’s Guide (10,000 have been
distributed so far) that we have had to go
into a second print run. Further copies are
now available, free of charge. Orders can
be placed with Sharon Tier via email at
stier@achs.org.au or call (02) 8218 2761.
Feedback, especially from clinicians, would
be most welcome and will greatly influence
any changes to be incorporated into the
second and subsequent editions. Comments
should be forwarded to Margaret Jackson at
mjackson@achs.org.au
Middle East market
In collaboration with Quality Healthcare
Australia (QHA), the <strong>ACHS</strong> participated in
the Arab Health exhibition held in Dubai in
February 2005.
The <strong>ACHS</strong> was represented by Dr “Taffy”
Jones who has identified the potential for the
<strong>ACHS</strong> to launch an international accreditation
program in the Middle East.
The exhibition has generated a number
of enquiries from organisations in the United
Emirates. The <strong>ACHS</strong> and QHA are following
up on these enquiries.
Review team candidates
The <strong>ACHS</strong> is preparing for its own
accreditation review conducted by the
International Society for Quality in Health
(ISQua) in late May 2005.
The <strong>ACHS</strong> is calling for expressions
of interest from surveyors to be part of
the assessment team. The requirement
will be for three days in Sydney from
25 May 2005. Details from Heather
McDonald, Executive Manager Customer
Service at hmcdonald@achs.org.au or call
02 9281 9955.
Surveys in 2005.
The year has commenced slowly with
no accreditation surveys in January
2005. February has also been slow with
only 15 organisations having a survey.
The anxiety around reaching the required
level within the Mandatory Criteria has
been high, so it is reassuring to see that
many of the organisations that have been
surveyed are pleased with the outcome of
their reviews.
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safety, quality, performance