Wednesday 1 Nov | 11:25-12:55

 

Part 1: You are the cavalry – improving patient flow in Victoria

Improving patient flow is a complex challenge and attempts often miss opportunities to improve the operational management of flow across the hospital. The Timely Emergency Care Collaborative, involving Ambulance Victoria and 14 health services from across Victoria, has taken an approach to lift engagement and focus on achieving early results by:

• Reframing the ‘why’ to be about creating a ‘safe and calm’ hospital


• Shifting from externalisation of the problem to organisational solutions


• Starting with opportunities that have an immediately measurable impact on patient flow


• Linking health services together working on the same change idea


• Using system-wide data for learning

Objectives:

• Engage clinicians in patient flow improvement in a way that resonates


• Plan patient flow improvements to achieve early impact


• Learn from the early gains achieved through this project

Stephanie Easthope, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), Australia

Jon Scott, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), Australia

Shane Robertson, Department of Health Victoria; Australia

 

Part 2: Planned Surgery Reform: Driving a patient centred approach to planned surgery waitlist management

In April 2022, the Victorian Government announced a $1.5 billion dollar investment to deliver the Surgery Recovery and Reform Program. A key element of the program has been the establishment of novel Patient Support Units (the Units) across Victorian health services. The Units provide an innovative approach to driving reform in action – ensuring patients receive timely and tailored communication whilst waiting for surgery, as well as receiving access to the right treatment, at the right time. This presentation will highlight how these new and innovative Units provide effective and inclusive management of Victorian patients waiting for planned surgery.

Objectives:

• Understand how the Units are driving improvements in patient experiences, access, and outcomes through timely and tailored engagement


• Recognise opportunities to improve equity of planned surgery access and outcomes for priority populations such as Aboriginal Victorians, through the targeted work of the Units


• Understand how health services are shifting the dial on traditional models of care, to improve patient outcomes and drive waitlist management efficiency, and how patients can directly influence model of care change


• Take learnings back to their own health services as to how the Units are ensuring best care delivery, as well as supporting pre-surgical optimisation of patients through streaming to non-surgical treatment pathways where appropriate


• Understand how collaboration both within and across Health Service Partnerships (HSPs) is driving sustainable planned surgery system reform, including the important role that HSPs and their partnering health services play in ongoing reform sustainability

Benjamin Thomson, Victorian Department of Health, Australia

Naomi Bromley, Victorian Department of Health, Australia