PORTLAND District Health will strive to keep improving after a favourable report from its interim national accreditation review.
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Assessors praised most facets of the hospital’s operations, including many areas upgraded following the 2012 review, according to Portland District Health (PDH) CEO Chris Giles.
“The interim survey results were very positive,” Ms Giles said.
“There is a lot to celebrate and many achievements across PDH to be extremely proud of.”
Most areas of operation gained positive verbal recognition but surveyors found re-organising rosters in the urgent care centre would allow for a more in-depth patient handover by doctors at the start of each shift.
Surveyors also said the PDH capacity framework document could be simplified to be more user-friendly, Ms Giles said.
“These will be addressed over the next 90 days. That is an expected part of the accreditation process and part of our continuous improvement.
“But we won’t stop there. We will continue our ongoing work in all areas of PDH such as patient management, medical services, the urgent care centre, collecting data and developing new operational plans to ensure we provide the best services to our community.
“Next time we want ‘meets standard with merit’ across the board. There will be much in the report to celebrate and we look forward to PDH being accredited for the next four years come mid-November.”
Surveyors noted all recommendations made in 2012 by the previous survey team had been acted on appropriately.
They commended the excellent risk management initiatives introduced or enhanced over the past two years and said best-practice systems were embedded throughout the organisation.
Infection control, electronic medication management, environmental management, falls management and management of pressure sores were among the areas commended.
In the survey a number of patients were asked to list the best things about PDH, and all put “the wonderful care provided by nurses and doctors” at the top.