A group of clinical leaders from Cairns Hospital recently participated in a team building and knowledge sharing activity as part of the Healthcare Improvement Unit’s continued focus on patient access and flow.
HIU facilitated site visits to a number of hospitals in Brisbane and on the Gold Coast with comparable demographic characteristics and models of care to Cairns. Learning directly from fellow clinicians and hospital leaders, the Cairns team was able to experience real-time, on-the-ground application of a particular model of care and compare this to their own models and patient flow.
Trina Pitts, Access to Care Project Manager (CHHHS) said CEQ’s role seemed more important than ever. “Information sharing across the system is difficult – it’s hard to know what other hospitals and clinicians are experiencing and what they’re doing to address common issues. And hospital access and demand is a huge priority area for the system right now. HIU and CEQ have the state-wide lens and the required tools to help solve problems. We are extremely grateful that they are here to help us improve our local processes.”
Trina said the site visits were of enormous benefit. “The team walked away from the site visits with many new-found perspectives and a number of ideas for tangible improvements in their local areas. The multidisciplinary team were able to build on relationships with one another and are now actively engaged in interdepartmental collaboration to improve patient flow in Cairns Hospital.”
The visit is one of many patient flow and access related activities that are currently being supported by HIU across the system and followed the principles of the Peer Exchange Program. This program aims to drive continuous quality improvement through self-assessment, enquiry and learning between teams of equivalent specialisation and knowledge. A two-way approach to sharing information was encouraged with both parties getting an opportunity to ask questions and learn from each other’s experiences.
For more information email Jamie Page at James.Page@health.qld.gov.au.
