South Gippsland Hospital shines at 2022 audit

SOUTH Gippsland Hospital (SGH) in Foster literally shone with cleanliness and then with pride last week after receiving a perfect 151 out of 151 score from its 2022 triennial external safety and quality accreditation audit.

A team from leading certification and accreditation agency Health and Disability Auditing Australia (HDAA) was present at SGH from Monday to Wednesday July 25 to 27, 2022 to conduct the intensive three-day review process.

SGH chief executive officer Paul Greenhalgh said, “we had the slogan ‘it’s time to shine’ in the lead up to the visit, and shine we did!

“SGH has been advised that it is being recommended to the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in HealthCare to receive a perfect score card, with 151 actions being met across eight standards,” he said.

“The auditors praised SGH in all areas of the standards and recognised our Hospital for its high-quality safe care.

 “They even mentioned that SGH is the cleanest hospital they have ever stepped foot in, which certainly is a credit to our environmental services manager Henriette McHarrie and her team!” Mr Greenhalgh said.

“This health service prides itself on its service model, which is underpinned by an extraordinary team, resulting in an excellent quality of care for our community.

“SGH understands the expectation of the community is to receive high-quality safe care, and this outstanding result exemplifies how amazing the entire SGH team is,” he said.

“This outcome is a direct result of every employee and volunteer’s attitude toward their respective roles; living our values, working hard, and caring about each other and our patients, clients, and the broader community.

“I would like to commend all of the SGH family; our Board, our staff, volunteers and consumers, for their contribution to the HDAA three-day visit and all their work in the preceding years to implement continuous quality service improvements,” Mr Greenhalgh said.

“This result validates that our structures, systems, policies and procedures are in sync with contemporary standards of care,” he said. 

“Receiving HDAA accreditation, against the second version of the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards, signifies that SGH safely delivers high quality acute and community care.”

The NSQHS Standards were developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care,  in collaboration with the Australian Government, states and territories, private sector providers, clinical experts, patients, and carers.

The primary aims of the NSQHS Standards are to protect the public from harm and to improve the quality of health service provision.

The eightNSQHS Standards provide a nationally consistent statement about the systems and processes consumers can expect health services to have in place, to deliver high quality and safe care.

The eight Standards are: Clinical Governance, Preventing and Controlling Infection, Comprehensive Care, Blood Management, Partnering with Consumers, Medication Safety, Communicating for Safety, and Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration.

Mr Greenhalgh said that during the auditors’ visit, SGH was able to showcase evidence of how the Hospital conforms with the NSQHS Standards.

“While there are some areas for further improvement, much data speaks to the safety of the health service,” he said.  

“Our People Matter Survey results from 2021 evidenced that we are in the business of safety.

“Eighty-six percent of staff had a positive response to safety culture questions, some 18 percent more than the Victorian benchmark, and third highest in the State.

“This particular survey also found that 96 per cent of SGH staff would recommend that a relative or friend of theirs be treated as a patient here, and the same percentage indicated they are proud to say they work at and for this Hospital.

 “A Safety Climate survey conducted in 2019 put SGH in the top quartile.

“Another indicator of a solid performance relates to a recent Victorian Health Experience Survey, where one hundred percent of SGH patients always felt cared for in the Hospital,” Mr Greenhalgh said.

“These are just some examples and we are so thrilled to have been acknowledged for the work we do.”

South Gippsland Hospital Board “So pleased”

In a letter to Mr Greenhalgh, SGH Board of Management chair Sue Pilkington said she and her fellow Board members were “so pleased to hear about the success of South Gippsland Hospital after the accreditation audit last week.

“During the exit meeting last Wednesday I heard first-hand from the auditors that we had fully met all of the Standards – without any ‘not met’ or ‘met with recommendation’ findings, and that they would be recommending our certification to the accrediting organisation,” Ms Pilkington wrote.

The letter noted “just a few of the compliments” paid to SGH by the auditors including that they “considered our systems to be on par with those of a much larger health service” and “that our patients love this hospital”.

Ms Pilkington’s letter also stated that the auditors found “that ours is the cleanest hospital they have ever been to, that this is the only time ever during an audit they’ve found all equipment was calibrated, and that they were so impressed by the passion and dedication they saw in our staff and everyone associated with our health service.” 

The letter told staff that “the Board understands the amount of work required to prepare for external certification.

“We particularly note how much more difficult it will have been to do that while the Health System Winter Response has been going on for the past few weeks and after everything else we’ve faced in the last 12 months.

“We acknowledge the extraordinary amount of work that’s been required of so many to prepare for and deliver such a great result.

“Please convey the Board’s sincere thanks to all for the time and effort put into making sure we were ready for audit and for showcasing to the auditors the very high quality of both this health service and our staff,” Ms Pilkington wrote.

“An outstanding result that is a credit to every person at South Gippsland Hospital.”• Some of the South Gippsland Hospital staff are pictured with Health and Disability Auditing Australia certification and accreditation agency team members Julie Hall and Deb Graham during last week’s three-day audit.

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