Page 55 - Joondalup Health Campus Annual Report 2017

A new program to improve patient safety by empowering staff to speak up when they have concerns commenced at JHC in October 2016.
The ‘Speak Up For Patient Safety’ program is a national Ramsay Health Care (RHC) initiative developed in collaboration with the Cognitive Institute and based on the internationally recognised Vanderbilt program. ‘Speak Up For Patient Safety’ has two pillars, the first of which is designed to encourage and empower staff to speak up when they are concerned about any immediate risk to patient safety, while the second pillar provides a mechanism for staff to identify and report any behaviour
which, if it remains unaddressed, may undermine our culture of safety.
RHC chose WA hospitals, including JHC, to pilot the program. Following the successful implementation here in the West, the program will be rolled-out at all Ramsay sites nation-wide.
The first phase of implementation was the delivery of a ‘Speak Up’ module, which taught all patient facing staff how to develop insights and communication skills to respectfully
raise issues with colleagues when they are concerned about a patient’s safety.
Director of Medical Services, Dr Simon Wood, said some 2,500 staff at all levels, including consultant medical officers, junior medical officers, nursing and allied health staff, were trained within months of the program’s launch.
“The initial education sessions provided highly practical skills in graded assertiveness, which involves having a conversation with another staff member that gradually escalates concerns in a way that may allow the other person to effectively hear them,” he said.
The second phase of the ‘Speak Up For Patient Safety’ program went live at the end of May 2017. Known as ‘Promoting Professional Accountability (PPA)’, this second pillar allows staff to provide confidential feedback via an online platform regarding any behaviour they witness that may undermine our culture of patient safety.
Speak Up For Patient Safety at JHC was an implementation on one of the largest scales we’ve ever seen and it was without a doubt one of the most successful in terms of engagement of staff at all levels of the organisation.
Chanelle Mcenallay, Chief Risk OffiCeR fOR RaMsay austRalia
“At the heart of this, is the ability to identify and respectfully engage your colleagues about any circumstance or behaviour that might put patients’ safety at risk, so that they can reflect and make the necessary changes. Both pillars of this program build on and strengthen the culture of patient safety that exists at JHC.”
JOONDALUP HEALTH CAMPUS | ANNUAL REPORT 2016/17
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