Page 3262 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 21 August 2018
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To ensure openness of the system-wide data review as it progressed, independent quarterly reports were undertaken. In part, these audits tracked ACT Health’s progress in implementing the 175 data integrity recommendations across six external reviews from recent years, including the Auditor-General’s reviews in 2012 and 2015.
I am pleased to say that throughout the review ACT Health made significant progress in addressing these recommendations. This has been quality assured by an external auditor to ensure all work was undertaken in a transparent way. Of the 175 data integrity recommendations, 69 recommendations have been addressed and are now complete; 70 are underway; 15 are considered ongoing with work in progress; and 21 recommendations were assessed as part of the review as no longer relevant.
A complete list of all 175 recommendations and their status will be available on the ACT Health website. Following on from the review, ACT Health is continuing its work to address all remaining recommendations. The paper I am tabling today outlines the review’s key findings and recommendations addressing the terms of reference that were tabled in the Assembly in March 2017.
Madam Speaker, as you are aware, the terms of reference required that a root cause analysis be conducted of the systemic and underlying drivers of the data issues. The independent root cause analysis process found that the key issues were uncertainty over the quality of data; a lack of access to timely data; a lack of clarity on how to compare and interpret data; and a perception that not all of the required data was being collected. These issues and subsequent recommendations helped to inform the key findings and recommendations identified in the outcomes report.
The nine recommendations from the review are: to build a new data repository that becomes a single source of truth; embed governance structures to establish clarity around data categories, ownership, decisions and accountabilities; routinely review data quality and identify any gaps in data collection; create user-friendly data documents to ensure interpretation is accurate; maintain security and privacy through training on access rights, obligations, legislative requirements and protocols; improve workforce capabilities and skill sets for collecting, maintaining and releasing data; regularly educate, remind and reinforce issues about data management through targeted communications; ensure staff are proactive and responsive to changes in business requirements, systems and policies by creating a change request register; and deliver timely information to maximise data for policy development, services provided and to better inform the performance, quality and safety of the care provided by ACT Health.
I note that one of the review’s recommendations centres on data security and privacy. This is vitally important to me to ensure the safety and security of the health data of all Canberrans. Given the recent and ongoing public discussions about the my health record and the use of health data more broadly, we all have the expectation that our information will be collected, managed and used appropriately. The review has considered these issues carefully, with the understanding that the highest standards of data security and privacy will be maintained now and into the future.
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