Page 3302 - Week 11 - Thursday, 11 November 2021
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relationships between health services and the universities, with genuine opportunity for clinicians to engage in research; that there is an opportunity and a need for improved collaboration and coordination across the health system, and that good platforms have been developed but there is more to do to improve; that work needs to continue to progress system-wide measures of performance, on both strategy and culture, to be developed and adopted for transparent reporting of progress; and that we need to ensure that there is a sustainable investment into organisation and system-wide culture to ensure that it is at the heart of what we do.
In summary, we have made progress and are building on the work that has been completed. However, there is more for us to do. There are more investments to be made and an understanding that consumers, carers and the community all benefit from ensuring a safe and positive workplace culture for our frontline workers.
I am pleased to say that further progress has already been made since Ms Leon undertook her consultations, particularly on system-wide measures of performance and work to ensure that clinicians have more opportunity to engage in research.
Madam Speaker, I am also responding to the Assembly resolution on workplace culture in the ACT health system that was passed in May this year. I committed to providing the Assembly with information on a range of matters relating to the management of inappropriate behaviour in the workplace.
In relation to inappropriate behaviours, bullying and harassment, all three organisations have processes and procedures for managing allegations of inappropriate behaviour. All of the processes and procedures comply with whole-of-government misconduct processes. In the ACT Health Directorate this process encourages managers, through support, to resolve issues early and promptly within teams. This reduces the need to escalate matters into formal processes unless necessary. Systems are being put in place that will provide opportunities to proactively resolve matters in potentially problematic work areas.
With regard to procedures and processes, including complaints handling, each organisation has mapped and has been reviewing processes and procedures, including complaints handling, with action plans developed. More recently, the culture review implementation steering group undertook a review of data across the system related to complaints handling, as well as other workforce-related data, to determine how this data can be developed into a system-wide dashboard that provides consistent information presented in a transparent way. This will allow the review and ongoing monitoring of identified indicators to manage trends and consider the impact and relationship of evolving data of individual indicators over time.
With regard to training and dealing with inappropriate workplace practices, all three organisations have developed training courses to improve the quality of interpersonal communications between staff, through information and practical training to reduce instances of bullying and harassment. Preliminary assessment training courses are being delivered in CHS and will be commencing shortly in Calvary Public Hospital Bruce. This training is designed to equip managers with the knowledge to effectively deal with inappropriate workplace practices with a focus on early intervention.
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