Page 831 - Week 03 - Wednesday, 21 March 2018
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Canberra Hospital—accreditation
MRS KIKKERT: My question is to the Minister for Health and Wellbeing. Minister, the Canberra Hospital is going through its yearly accreditation process where experts visit the hospital and talk to staff about their roles. We have received advice that staff at the hospital are being coached as to what to say to the people conducting the accreditation. Minister, is the Canberra Hospital or ACT Health taking staff away from their normal duties to coach them on what to say to the experts undertaking the accreditation process?
MS FITZHARRIS: I would appreciate some further information from Mrs Kikkert about this claim. It is vitally important that hospital accreditation take place. It is essential, in order to provide high-quality, safe hospital facilities, that once every five years hospitals undergo an accreditation process with the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards.
It is a vital process that staff must go through. Planning has been underway for 12 months to undertake this accreditation. It is important for ACT Health and Canberra Hospital to go through this accreditation process. If staff are preparing for and have been training for the accreditation process because—
Mr Wall: Do you train for accreditation?
Mr Coe: Wouldn’t it be better to train for health care?
MS FITZHARRIS: Yes, indeed, Madam Speaker. Healthcare professionals need to make sure that their own professional development and clinical practice keep up with contemporary standards, as they also do with the accreditation of Canberra Hospital which—Mrs Kikkert is correct—is being undertaken this week.
MRS KIKKERT: Minister, is it normal practice in the Health Directorate to coach staff on what to say in the accreditation process?
MS FITZHARRIS: It is unclear to me what Mrs Kikkert means by coaching. Certainly ACT Health staff have been planning for a year, which I understand is what happens at each accreditation process, making sure that the Canberra Hospital, in this instance, is able to meet the accreditation standards of the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards. It is an important task and something that ACT Health staff have rightly been planning for for a year.
MS LEE: Minister, is the purpose of the accreditation process interviews to get honest answers from staff on how the hospital works?
MS FITZHARRIS: Yes.
Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders—cultural activity support
MS CODY: My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. How does the ACT government support the celebration and sharing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture in the ACT?
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