Calvary hospital North Adelaide leads way in delivering safer health outcomes
Little Company of Mary Hospital, Calvary North Adelaide, has been applauded today for its developments in improving quality, safety and clinical outcomes for patients.
Calvary North Adelaide has received a $30,000 grant from the Medibank Private Safety and Clinical Improvement Incentive Pool (MPSCIIP). The grant was officially received at an event held this morning at Calvary Wakefield Hospital.
The incentive pool - totalling more than $900,000 distributed across Australia - was established by Medibank Private to support targeted initiatives aimed at improving quality and safety in private hospitals. It allows the health fund to work with private hospitals, like Calvary North Adelaide, to reduce the risk of adverse events and encourage innovation and best practice in clinical care in Australian private hospitals.
Calvary North Adelaide Hospital won the grant for their project to introduce a national standardised approach to prevent falls and harm from falls effecting older people across the Little Company of Mary Healthcare's acute care, rehabilitation and aged care services throughout Australia.
The project is based on a plan published by the Australian Council for Safe and Quality Health Care in 2005, and is designed to achieve comprehensive and integrated risk management against falls.
Ms. Jenny Duncan, Little Company of Mary Health Care, National Clinical Services Advisor, said, "The grant will assist in the development of a multi-site team to achieve a coordinated framework for falls risk analysis, assessment and management, also funding the comprehensive education of clinical staff required.
"I wish to extend my congratulations to Medibank Private on the Safety and Clinical Improvement Incentive Pool initiative, and we look forward to rolling this initiative out across all Little Company Mary Health Care sites" Ms. Duncan said.
"Medibank's incentive pool allows us to work with hospitals to improve clinical outcomes. We want better health outcomes for our members and the MPSCIIP forces us to do more
than just talk about improving quality and safety," said Medibank Private's National Hospital Manager, Russell Bateman.
"We are assisting hospitals to be more innovative, to lift the bar on current standards.
"It's simple really - we want the best health outcomes for our members, we asked hospitals how they could do this, they told us and we are helping them make it a reality." said Mr Bateman
FACTS ABOUT THE MEDIBANK PRIVATE INCENTIVE POOL:
� Originally $500,000 was made available in 2006, but due to the quality of applications this increased to over $900,000.
� 34 hospitals across Australia were successful in their application
� Total value of approved proposals is $907,488
� Major areas of innovation of applications included:
Improving management of medication
Discharge and re-admission planning
Pressure ulcer management
Improving patient communication and education
� A pool of $1 million will be available for distribution in 2007.
THE FACTS ON FALLS:
Falls statistics (taken from The Safety and Quality Council Guidelines) show:
� Falls and fall related injury are significant problems in Australian hospitals and residential aged care facilities.
� Falls are the leading cause of injury death among people aged 65 years and over.
� 1 in 3 people aged 65 years and over fall each year.
� Approximately 50% of nursing home residents falling each year.
BACKGROUND ON LITTLE COMPANY OF MARY HEALTH CARE:
Little Company of Mary Health Care (LCMHC) provides a broad range of health, aged and community care services in five States and Territories - New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory. Our Services include public and private hospital care, acute and sub-acute care, retirement and aged care services, and home based community care services.
In South Australia, Little Company of Mary Healthcare comprises of 4 sites; Calvary North Adelaide, Calvary Wakefield Street, Calvary Central Districts and Calvary College Grove Rehabilitation Hospital
ENDS
For further information please contact:
Libby Woolnough - Medibank Private
T. (03) 8622 5181 or 0411 659 060
E: libby_Woolnough@medibank.com.au
