Safety and Quality Roles and Responsibilities in Your Organisation
Published: 02 August 2020
Published: 02 August 2020
The organisation’s role is to support their workforce to understand and perform their designated safety and quality roles and responsibilities (ACSQHC 2019).
Safety is the practice of preventing errors and adverse outcomes in healthcare, while quality refers to the likelihood of positive client outcomes and how well the organisation works in tandem with current professional expertise.
Safety and quality can be defined further using the STEEEP framework:
Safe | Avoiding harm to patients and keeping staff safe. |
Timely | Preventing delays that impede on the flow of care. |
Effective | Delivering evidence-based care, only to those who are likely to benefit. |
Equitable | Providing equal access to care regardless of gender, income, ethnicity, location etc. |
Efficient | Using resources sustainably. |
Patient-centred | Delivering respectful, responsive care that takes into consideration individual clients’ preferences, values and needs. |
(Adapted from West Moreton Health 2020)
Together, safety and quality practices aim to ensure that clients receive the right care, in the right place, at the right time and cost (ACSQHC 2019).
Safety and quality roles and responsibilities are outlined in Actions 1.25 and 1.26 of the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards, under Standard 1: Clinical Governance.
These actions aim to ensure that staff are supported and supervised to appropriately fulfil their designated safety and quality roles and responsibilities. Providers are required to:
(ACSQHC 2019)
Safety roles and responsibilities within an organisation can be seen as a hierarchical structure, wherein:
(West Moreton Health 2020)
More specific roles and responsibilities should be outlined in the organisation’s policies and procedures, as well as in individual staff members’ position descriptions (West Moreton Health 2020).
In order to ensure safety and quality roles and responsibilities are upheld effectively, organisations should:
(ACSQHC 2019)
One key component of safety and quality is supervising junior staff to ensure they are appropriately fulfilling their roles and responsibilities. The aim is for junior staff to increase their competency and eventually become independent. Supervision should include regular performance feedback and reviews (ACSQHC 2019).
Those responsible for supervising junior staff should:
(ACSQHC 2019)
All clients expect and deserve safe and high-quality care. This responsibility falls upon every staff member, and the health service organisation is expected to ensure individual roles and responsibilities are clearly defined. Furthermore, the health service organisation must support staff to understand and appropriately uphold their designated roles and responsibilities.
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