Page 1207 - Week 05 - Thursday, 4 June 2020
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raised in evidence and which the committee has carefully and rigorously considered has been the effectiveness of the clinical governance of maternity services in the ACT.
Clinical governance is defined as:
… doing the right thing, at the right time, by the right person—the application of the best evidence to a patient’s problem, in the way the patient wishes, by an appropriately trained and resourced individual or team. But that’s not all—that individual or team must work within an organisation that is accountable for the actions of its staff, values its staff (appraises and develops them), minimises risks, and learns from good practice, and indeed mistakes.
That is a quote from “What is clinical governance?”
In seeking to respond to the many issues raised in evidence to this inquiry, the committee has been forward-looking in setting out its recommendations, using a framework that encompasses evidence relating to the overarching strategy for maternity services in the ACT, its governance framework and the system and service values of safety, respect, choice and access.
The committee has also been forward-looking in setting out its recommendations using an overarching ethos that maternity services and models of care should at all times be woman centred. Overwhelmingly, evidence received to this inquiry was of the view that maternity services and models of care should be woman centred. The benefits of woman-centred care for both women and care providers are well established.
The committee recognises the considerable efforts of people working on policy development and at the front line of the delivery of maternity services in the ACT. The committee also recognises that no area of healthcare delivery should be immune from critical examination at any time and it would be unrealistic to accept that the delivery of maternity services and care in the ACT is incapable of improvement.
The committee acknowledges the professional staff—doctors, nurses, allied health and other clinicians—who deliver maternity services in and across the maternity care continuum in the ACT and the vast array of non-clinical staff, including significant numbers of volunteers, who support the professionals in the delivery of these services. The committee also acknowledges that maternity services and care are delivered in the ACT 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 52 weeks a year, often under significant pressure and increasing demand.
On behalf of the committee, I wish to thank all those who have contributed to this inquiry by making submissions and/or appearing before it to give evidence. The committee recognises the significant commitment of time and resources, and for many the emotional heartache and distress, required to participate in an inquiry of this nature, and it is grateful that it was able to draw on a broad range of expertise and experience in its deliberations.
In its report the committee has based many of its recommendations on suggestions by inquiry participants. The committee has made 74 recommendations in relation to its
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