❓ Ms Mettam questions the delay in releasing the 'Your safety in our hands in hospital' report, suggesting ministerial interference. The Minister responds, citing COVID-related delays, patient confidentiality concerns, and highlighting the report's positive findings.
AnsweredQoN 187Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
YOUR SAFETY IN OUR HANDS IN HOSPITAL REPORT —
RELEASE
187. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I
refer to the annual release of the Your safety in our hands in hospital report, which for the last decade has generally been released towards the end of each calendar year, and note the 2021–22
report has not yet been released. Can the minister confirm that the 2021–22
report has been received by her office and that the extended delay in releasing
the report is because of changes that the minister or her staff have requested?
RELEASE
187. Ms L. METTAM to the Minister for Health:
I
refer to the annual release of the Your safety in our hands in hospital report, which for the last decade has generally been released towards the end of each calendar year, and note the 2021–22
report has not yet been released. Can the minister confirm that the 2021–22
report has been received by her office and that the extended delay in releasing
the report is because of changes that the minister or her staff have requested?
AnswerView source ↗
The Department of Health regularly publishes a range of
reports. The Your safety in our hands in hospital report is one of the reports that has been published over
the last 10 years. Sometimes those reports come through my office and sometimes they do not. If there are things
that I am required to be briefed on, they will sometimes come through my
office, but hundreds of reports are published by the department. They can
usually be found on its websites.
We received the Your
safety in our hands in hospital report at the very end of last year. The
member will note that last year was an incredibly busy year for the
system as a whole, including the system manager who develops the report,
managing the pandemic and COVID in our community and in our hospitals, so there
was some delay in getting that report to my office. As one would expect, I get
myself across those reports and my office gets across those reports.
There was some concern about identifying case studies in
those reports. It is a priority that patient confidentiality is always
protected. People end up in the media, they end up in the news and they end up
in reports for no reason or fault of their
own, and their medical circumstances become public knowledge. It is important
that we always protect their privacy. This report is developed for
clinicians and hospitals to work on their systems and use as learnings. We have
to balance transparency in the reporting that we provide. We are the most
transparent government department, I would have to say. The Department of
Health reports volumes of data. Clinical incidents and severity assessment code
1s are reported in every health service provider's annual report, which
was not the case when this report was developed. Sentinel events are reported
in those annual reports. Any outlet can seek information on SAC 1 events and sentinel events by the department
and they are provided with de-identified information. A multitude of
data and reporting is out there.
There is a good story in the report, so the Leader of the
Liberal Party can take off her tinfoil hat. It is a good report. It shows that
the number of clinical incidents are down, there was increased inpatient
activity and the number of SAC 1 incidents
are down. The concern is around identifying patient information, in particular
when certain incidents had already been reported in the media and those
patients were unhappy about being reported in the media.
reports. The Your safety in our hands in hospital report is one of the reports that has been published over
the last 10 years. Sometimes those reports come through my office and sometimes they do not. If there are things
that I am required to be briefed on, they will sometimes come through my
office, but hundreds of reports are published by the department. They can
usually be found on its websites.
We received the Your
safety in our hands in hospital report at the very end of last year. The
member will note that last year was an incredibly busy year for the
system as a whole, including the system manager who develops the report,
managing the pandemic and COVID in our community and in our hospitals, so there
was some delay in getting that report to my office. As one would expect, I get
myself across those reports and my office gets across those reports.
There was some concern about identifying case studies in
those reports. It is a priority that patient confidentiality is always
protected. People end up in the media, they end up in the news and they end up
in reports for no reason or fault of their
own, and their medical circumstances become public knowledge. It is important
that we always protect their privacy. This report is developed for
clinicians and hospitals to work on their systems and use as learnings. We have
to balance transparency in the reporting that we provide. We are the most
transparent government department, I would have to say. The Department of
Health reports volumes of data. Clinical incidents and severity assessment code
1s are reported in every health service provider's annual report, which
was not the case when this report was developed. Sentinel events are reported
in those annual reports. Any outlet can seek information on SAC 1 events and sentinel events by the department
and they are provided with de-identified information. A multitude of
data and reporting is out there.
There is a good story in the report, so the Leader of the
Liberal Party can take off her tinfoil hat. It is a good report. It shows that
the number of clinical incidents are down, there was increased inpatient
activity and the number of SAC 1 incidents
are down. The concern is around identifying patient information, in particular
when certain incidents had already been reported in the media and those
patients were unhappy about being reported in the media.
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