Page 4525 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 26 November 2019
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system review to ensure that CHS has the right mix of CCTV, duress equipment and security officer presence.
The current training program of OV at CHS is undergoing an evaluation with surveys recently sent to participants of OV training and the OV strategy working group. This evaluation will identify gaps and assist the organisation to implement a tiered approach to training based on best practice.
Response to incidents of OV is an area that CHS will be focusing on with the introduction of the code grey into the current emergency code system. The goal of the code grey is to intervene early with a clinically led response team to resolve issues quickly before OV escalates. This new emergency code will commence in 2021 once comprehensive planning work has been completed and a revised OV training program has been implemented.
I am pleased to advise that CHS in collaboration with ACT Health digital solutions is about to launch a pilot to test duress advice for community staff who deliver clinical care in people’s homes.
Under-reporting of OV incidents in caring environments such as hospitals is a well-known issue across Australia. To address this, CHS is working on initiatives to make reporting less onerous but also to provide staff with information on what to report. The working definition of OV that is now used in CHS has been broadened to include incidents where the intent of the person is out of their control, for example, post anaesthetic, cognitive impairment, intoxication or symptoms of mental illness. This is to emphasise that any acts of OV, intentional or otherwise, require attention with a view to protecting staff.
I want to provide an outline of what CHS will look like after the three-year implementation plan has been delivered. CHS will be a health service that provides clear governance of all OV-related issues, has embedded business-as-usual prevention strategies, and has a workforce that is trained in all aspects of the strategy including de-escalation skills and OV management and response techniques as well as developing behaviour management strategies in collaboration with patients and carers.
CHS will respond to incidents, aggression and violence early using a code grey response with a well-trained, dedicated response team and will have a culture of reporting staff incidents of OV with more streamlined reporting systems. CHS will support their staff if an OV incident occurs, both immediately and on an ongoing basis to ensure a safe return to work, and incidents will be investigated to identify lessons learnt. Finally the organisation will have clear, mutual expectations of behaviour for staff, patients, carers and visitors.
I take this opportunity to thank the dedicated staff in CHS for progressing this important work and I look forward to improvements in the prevention and management of occupational violence at Canberra Health Services.
I present a copy of the following paper:
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