South Perth Hospital is committed to ongoing improvement of patient care in all areas. While we have an excellent record in delivering quality patient care and managing risks, our hospital continues to focus on improvements to ensure that our services are as safe as possible and that we are minimising risks at all times.

South Perth Hospital operates within a comprehensive Clinical Governance Framework based on an integrated approach to clinical risk management and continuous quality improvement. This Framework monitors four major areas of organisational performance including:

Consumer involvement

  • The key elements of consumer involvement rely on maintaining two way communications between the consumer and the organisation and engaging consumer participation in planning, policy development and decision making. We involve our patients and consumers in the development of information, resources and communication strategies. For further Information see Partnering with Consumers
  • The organisational culture promotes patient safety and quality improvement initiatives and is supported through the committee structures, systems and processes that are in place.

Clinical Effectiveness

  • South Perth Hospital builds a culture where evaluation of clinical performance and outcomes is embedded into every clinician’s clinical practice.
  • Staff and management discharge their legal and clinical responsibilities in an ethical manner.

Clinical Risk Management

  • Clinical risk management identifies and reduces potential risks and examines adverse incidents for causative and contributing factors and trends.
  • Clinical risk management includes incident and adverse event reporting, monitoring and trend analysis, monitoring and clinical investigation and risk analysis.

Effective Workforce

  • Effective clinical leadership is in place at all levels of service delivery. Clearly defined roles and responsibilities are understood by all clinicians in the system.
  • The organisation has in place processes to support an effective workforce that includes selection and recruitment of quality staff; credentialing of visiting health practitioners including annual review of practice; maintenance of professional standards through training and assessment and the management of the safe introduction of new interventions.
S&Q

At South Perth Hospital we aim to minimise the risk of infection to patients, staff and visitors who come to our facility. The hospital has a number of programs in place to detect and prevent infections that are common within health care facilities. One of the most effective means to prevent infection spreading amongst patients is for all health professionals, patients and visitors to wash their hands.

Staph Aureus Bacteraemia (SAB)

Staphylococcus aureus is a bacterium (germ) that is frequently found on the skin as one of the normal resident bacteria. Usually it causes no medical problems, but occasionally this bacterium can enter the body and cause a serious infection. Most of the time, the Staphylococcus bacteria gets into the body through a break in the skin. Common infections that are caused by Staphylococcus aureus include infections of the skin, abscesses or boils. Less common but more serious infections caused by Staphylococcus aureus include blood stream infections.

Clostridium Difficile

Clostridium difficile is a bacterium that causes an inflammation of the bowel that causes diarrhoea. People who are unwell, have conditions requiring prolonged use of antibiotics, and the elderly, are at greater risk of acquiring this disease. People can become infected if they touch items or surfaces that are contaminated and then touch their mouth or mucous membranes. South Perth Hospital takes every precaution to prevent these infections from occurring in patients during hospitalisation through a well-established infection prevention program. For this indicator, a lower rate is preferred.  For further information see Infection Prevention and Control

South Perth Hospital participates in the National Hand Hygiene Strategy through Hand Hygiene Australia. Hand hygiene compliance audits are conducted three times per year by a Hand Hygiene Team lead by our Infection Control Coordinator who has completed the Hand Hygiene Australia Gold Standard Compliance Auditor and Assessor course (2015)

Visitors to this hospital are encouraged to use the antiseptic hand rub located throughout the hospital.

For this indicator, a higher rate is preferred. For further information see Infection Prevention and Control

The risk of falling increases according to age with data suggesting that one third of people over the age of 65 years have one or more falls a year.

Whilst falls can occur at all ages, the frequency and severity of falls related injuries increases significantly with age. These injuries may result in hospitalisation or an increased length of stay in hospital.

The risk of falling can greatly increase when admitted to hospital due to a range of factors including illness and unsteadiness, adapting to a new environment, the introduction of new medications and walking in unsafe footwear or slippers.

In 2016 South Perth Hospital increased the focus on falls prevention in our hospital by commencing a quality activity to standardise the approach to falls prevention including the use of a structured risk assessment, policy and guidelines, equipment for falls prevention and clinical staff education. Our hospital uses a number of strategies to prevent falls and these including increased supervision of patients identified as high risk of falling; ensuring that call bells and personal items are within the patients reach, answering call bells promptly and assisting patients to the toilet at regular intervals. In addition, South Perth Hospital utilises non slip socks, falls mats, and chair alarms to minimise the risk of patients falling whilst in our hospital. Our Physiotherapist staff work with patients at risk of falling to improve mobility, promote lower limb strength and educate on mobility aids.

For this indicator, a lower rate is preferred.  SPH rates are compared with all organisations submitting data (general) and all organisations of a similar size (peer).

South Perth Hospital adheres to the principles of The Australian Charter of Health Care Rights. The Charter is used as the basis for relevant policies, for administrative systems, monitoring and reporting. All staff are made aware of patients’ rights and responsibilities through ongoing staff education.

For your information, Posters are displayed around the hospital and Charter pamphlets are provided in the Welcome Packs situated by each patient bed.  For further information see Rights and Responsibilities

We encourage feedback from our patients via our website, patient feedback cards or via our formal patient satisfaction surveys that are conducted every 3 years. It is advisable that if you have a problem you express your concerns before you leave the hospital so we can address this for you. The nurse in charge of your ward is a good start but if you prefer you can provide your feedback in writing to the Chief Executive Officer/Director of Nursing.  For further information see Talk to Us

Sometimes patients need to return to theatre unexpectedly to treat bleeding or other problems occurring early after the operation, we call this ‘return to theatre’. Although some of these returns may not be preventable, we examine each case where this has occurred to minimise these returns and to get the best possible outcomes for our patients.

For this indicator, a lower rate is preferred.  SPH rates are compared with all organisations submitting data (general) and all organisations of a similar size (peer).

Pressure injuries are wounds which form as a result of prolonged pressure to an area of skin. Pressure injuries are recognised worldwide as a common cause of harm to patients and can cause significant pain and discomfort which may result in a slower recovery for the patient.

South Perth Hospital is well equipped to assist staff to prevent these injuries from occurring. Patients are risk-assessed on admission using an evidenced-based tool. Staff follow a care plan which is targeted at minimising a patient’s risk of developing a pressure injury for those patients assessed as high risk. This includes inspecting the patient’s skin frequently, managing moisture and keeping the skin dry, optimising nutrition and hydration and moving the patient frequently or using special pressure relieving mattresses when needed.

For this indicator, a lower rate is preferred.  SPH rates are compared with all organisations submitting data (general) and all organisations of a similar size (peer).

Medicines are used to treat a variety of conditions in the hospital setting and therefore it is important to monitor the incidence of errors and identify opportunities for improvement.

The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care has introduced a number of safety initiatives for medication management and South Perth Hospital has adopted many of these strategies. Our medication charts are based on the National Inpatient Medication Chart which standardises the documentation on how medicines are prescribed and ordered. South Perth Hospital has also adopted the User-Applied Labelling of Injectable Medicines recommendations to promote safer use of injectable medicines and the Tall Man Lettering List to reduce the risk of medication errors in medicine selection by healthcare staff.

In addition, South Perth Hospital has medication management policies and processes in place which have been developed using best practice principles.

South Perth Hospital takes all medication errors very seriously. We encourage staff to report all errors no matter how minor they may seem. All medication incidents are investigated thoroughly and monitored by our Governance Committee.

For this indicator, a lower rate is preferred.  SPH rates are compared with all organisations submitting data (general) and all organisations of a similar size (peer).