Gold Coast Hospitals: Doctors and nurses can now report each other

Doctors and nurses at the Gold Coast’s hospitals can now report each other’s behaviour after it was given a worst in the state rating.

A PROGRAM that allows doctors and nurses to report each other’s behaviour has been introduced by Gold Coast Health following dismal results from a junior doctor wellbeing survey last year.

The survey, taken by the peak medical body Australia Medical Association Queensland in 2018, graded the health service at a D-minus, the worst in the state, prompting a new internal initiative, according to the latest annual report.

Dubbed a “cultural revolution”, the Promoting Professional Accountability (PPA) program was introduced in March.

The program is a new process for health workers, regardless of their level, to report behaviour that may put patient safety at risk using online feedback forms.

The confidential online reporting enables staff to raise concerns where it is not possible, safe or effective to speak up directly.

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Gold Coast University Hospital . Picture Glenn Hampson

Gold Coast Health executive director of clinical governance, education and research Dr Jeremy Wellwood said the PPA had improved accountability in the organisation.

“We are on a journey towards embedding the program within the health service, continually encouraging team discussions on our safety culture, of which the PPA program is just one tool,” said Dr Wellwood.

The health service has also attempted to address a number of other concerns raised by the anonymous junior doctors in the 2018 survey, including claims of workplace bullying and a fear of mistakes caused by fatigue due to excessive overtime.

According to the annual report, improvements included ensuring junior doctors have a voice within committees across the health service, implementing new governance processes in medical education and working to resolve issues related to overtime and fatigue.

In the past financial year Gold Coast Health also became the first health service in Queensland to introduce the integrated electronic medical record (ie MR) to all its facilities in a single rollout.

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Gold Coast University Hospital Chief Executive, Ron Calvert, at work. Picture Glenn Hampson

Chief executive Ron Calvert, who described the introduction as a success, said it was due to the involvement of the clinical workforce during planning and implementation.

Mr Calvert said Gold Coast Health also continued to experience unprecedented growth in the past 12 months, from emergency department presentations (up 11 per cent) to elective surgery (up 13 per cent).

“Reasons behind this include increasing local population numbers, an ageing as well as a very young/family demographic, and more chronic disease in the community,” he said.

The health service also saw the delivery of 5138 babies, 323,532 oral health treatments, 176,597 emergency department presentations, 8514 emergency surgeries and 18,010 elective surgeries, all covered by a total budget of $1.567 billion in 2018-19.

This year, the Coast’s two major public hospitals were also acknowledged in the American magazine Newsweek’s global hospital rankings. Gold Coast University Hospital was ranked as number six in Australia, while Robina Hospital came in at number 32.