The damning Auditor-General’s report into Patient Safety in Public Hospitals slams the Brumby Government for not doing enough to ensure prompt delivery and development of a clinical governance policy and integrated incident system which would effectively reduce incidents in Victorian hospitals, said Shadow Minister for Health Helen Shardey.

“The report reveals one in ten patients admitted to a hospital in Victoria are harmed as a result of their admission and almost 50 per cent of these incidents are avoidable,” said Mrs Shardey.

“The Brumby Government has failed to develop a state-wide system to monitor patient safety, which would reduce incidents of patient harm in hospitals.

“Despite a previous audit of patient safety in public hospitals in 2005 and a departmental review of quality and safety last year, there has been a distinct failure to implement all the recommendations by the state government.

“Delivery of the project by the Brumby Government is 2010, too long a wait for Victorians harmed in hospitals, and going by their previous track record of delivering on projects, Victorians can expect a delivery time blow out.

“The Auditor-General advised the Labor Government to commit to a course of action and follow it through in a timely manner and before 2010.

“Victoria is the only state in Australia that does not have an incident monitoring system in place and the duplication at all levels of the current system makes it unworkable,” said Mrs Shardey.

While the Auditor-General recognises there is some data gathered through sentinel events, infection rates and pressure ulcers, this data represents only a small portion of patient safety data and the Auditor-General called for a process that measures the system as a whole.

“Apart from the unnecessary trauma to the patients and their families, the cost of these clinical incidents is more than $500 million a year,” said Mrs Shardey.

“The safety of patients in public hospitals is of paramount importance and the Brumby Government is failing in its duty of care by not establishing recommended quality of care processes.

“It is important the Victorian community has confidence our hospital system will provide the best quality of care possible and the Brumby Government must ensure systems are in place to deliver such care,” says Mrs Shardey.