Annual Report - Ambulance Service of NSW

Statutory and other informationAmbulance PlanningProgress during 2006/07 developingAmbulance Five Year Strategic Plan> Completion of the Ambulance Five YearStrategic Plan, which adheres to formatrecommended by NSW Health and is astrategic fit to Health’s Future Directionsand Ambulance’s future challenges.> A foldout single page plan has beenpublished and distributed to Ambulancestaff and is available on the intranet.> Ambulance Five Year Strategic Planformally approved by NSW Health.Progress during 2006/07 developingAmbulance Service Plans> Education Action Plan has been finalised.The first phase of developing the ClinicalServices Development Plan undertakento be followed up by a further workshopto draft a more detailed version.> The Corporate Services functionalbusiness plans are currently undergoingdevelopment.> Business continuity plans developed inthe event of operational and or technicalinterruption, disruption or disaster usinga pre-defined, pre-tested, approvedcourse of action will be employed by keystakeholders in the recovery process.Key milestones for implementing Plans> A progress review of the Ambulance FiveYear Plan will be conducted to monitorkey milestones as envisaged in the plan.Key priorities/directions arising to date> To ensure Ambulance strategies andactions are consistent with the sevenstrategic directions of Health.> To ensure Ambulance planning reflectsthe 20 year future strategic horizon andthe five year planning framework.Future directions associated with the FiveYear Ambulance Plan> Substantial Government investment inambulance officers and technology willassist manage the expected increase indemand for services to 2010.> To enable changes to the type of servicesthat are being sought from modern dayambulance clinicians to contribute to thebroader spectrum of health care delivery.> Maintain the emphasis on increasing theclinical skills of ambulance officers andservices that are evolving from a “takingthe patient to care” to one that is “takingcare to the patient.”> Partnerships with health care providerswill be carefully developed to ensurereliable access to ongoing care.Committees of the Ambulance ServiceCommittees of the Ambulance Service as at 30 June 2007Corporate Governance CommitteesFinance CommitteeThe primary function of the FinanceCommittee is to assist the Chief Executivein fulfilling responsibilities in respect of thefinancial management of Ambulance.Twelve Finance Committee meetings wereheld between 1 July 2006 and 30 June2007. Attendance by Council members:Greg Rochford12 meetingsBarrie Unsworth (Chair) 10 meetingsMaria Pethard9 meetingsAudit and Risk CommitteeThe primary function of the Audit and RiskCommittee is to assist the Chief Executiveby reviewing systems of financial accounting,systems of internal audit controls and theaudit process.Privacy information for patientsAmbulance complies with the Privacy andPersonal Information Protection Act (1998)and the Health Records and InformationPrivacy Act (2002) (HRIP). The HRIP Actis designed to balance the protectionof personal health information with thepublic interest in the legitimate use ofthat information. During 2006/07, oneapplication was received under the HealthRecords Information Privacy Act 2002 on 6October 2006. The outcome of the reviewidentified that Ambulance breached HealthPrivacy Principle 5 by not taking reasonablesteps to secure the information and HealthPrivacy Principle 10 by inadvertent use ofthe information. As a result, Ambulanceimplemented a policy about sendinginformation by a facsimile machine.Personal health information is collected whenan individual calls 000 and patient contactis made. When a patient is transported tohospital ambulance officers complete apatient health care record and leave a copywith the hospital. Only information thatis relevant and necessary for a patient’streatment and ongoing care is collected.All reasonable steps are taken to ensurethe information that is collected is storedsecurely. Patient health care records areretained for 25 years.Appropriate systems are in place to protectinformation from loss, unauthorised accessand misuse.Four Audit and Risk Committee meetingswere held between 1 July 2006 and 30 June2007. Attendance by Council members:Greg Rochford4 meetingsMaria Pethard3 meetingsLinda Barach3 meetingsJim Arneman2 meetingsStephen Flanagan2 meetingsClinical Governance CommitteeThe primary function of the ClinicalGovernance Committee is to assist the ChiefExecutive ensure the clinical quality and safetyof care delivered and to establish and monitorprogress of clinical improvement strategies.Three Clinical Governance meetings wereheld between 1 July 2006 and 30 June2007. Attendance by Council members:Jon Isaacs (Chair)3 meetingsJim Arneman2 meetingsAmbulance uses and discloses personalhealth information for the primary purposethat the information was collected. Underlegislation, information can also be usedand disclosed for purposes directly relatedto a patient’s treatment, in ways reasonablyexpected for a patient’s ongoing care.Ambulance is also required to disclosepatient information to State andCommonwealth government agencies tocomply with other laws and may also berequired to provide a copy of a patient healthcare record if it is subpoenaed for evidencein a court of law. Information is also used anddisclosed for billing, statutory reporting andother purposes required for the operationof Ambulance, which includes safety andquality improvement initiatives. Whererelevant, Ambulance may need to disclosepatient information to Medicare, privatehealth funds or the Department of Veterans’Affairs.Each patient is entitled to request accessto all personal information. A fee may becharged to provide a patient with a copy oftheir record. Requests should be in writingand addressed to:Ambulance Service of New South WalesMedical Records DepartmentPO Box 17HAMILTON NSW 2303Ph: (02) 4921 753460 Annual Report 2006/07 Ambulance Service of New South Wales