Page 162 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 12 February 2020
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These results provide a valuable snapshot of trainees’ perspectives on the quality of medical training and will assist colleges, training organisations and our health services to identify areas for improvement. The results provide further context for the work that is currently underway as we address the issues identified in the culture review.
The survey highlights the need to continue encouraging staff to come forward if they experience bullying and harassment. We know that there is more to be done to build an environment where staff feel safe and supported to report concerns. But even since the survey was undertaken in July to October last year, a lot of work has been done on that front. Our leadership across our hospitals is absolutely committed to seeing change. We have a three-year program of work that is being supported by significant investment made in last year’s budget, and information from this survey will help to inform future initiatives specifically aimed at supporting medical trainees. I thank the survey participants for their honesty, for their willingness to share their experiences and for their feedback. Their feedback will have a direct impact on the improvements to our health services.
I would also say that those are not the only experiences we hear about. The Australasian College of Emergency Medicine shared some feedback from their accreditation inspection which indicated that “trainees feel supported by the approachable ACEM group, who are very visible on the floor. Common comments expressed that the nurturing environment makes it an enjoyable place in spite of the business.”
MISS C BURCH: Minister, to what extent does the poor reputation of the ACT public health system for bullying, harassment and overall poor culture impact our ability to recruit staff?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Miss Burch for the supplementary but again I reject the premise of it. Both the ACT Health Directorate and Canberra Health Services will shortly be sharing with their staff the outcomes of the climate surveys that have recently been undertaken. We saw more than 80 per cent of the Health Directorate staff and, I think, 57 per cent of Canberra Health Services staff complete those climate surveys, so it is a great result in terms of participation. I think that we will have more cause for cautious optimism that people are seeing real change in Canberra Health Services. Our trainees also experience time at Calvary, which is also making a significant effort in this regard.
In relation to Canberra Health Services, the initiatives in place or currently underway include finalisation and implementation of the CHS values, vision and role statements. One value is being celebrated each quarter over a 12-month period. This is helping to instil the CHS values organisationally.
The integration of an employee advocate role into the business now on a shared basis with the ACT Health Directorate is giving people a third party to go to within the organisation to discuss how they can report and what would happen if they reported an incident of bullying and harassment if they did not feel comfortable going straight to HR. There has also been an updated structure in the people and culture division for
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