Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Griff for the question and for providing me with some notice, but can I also acknowledge the personal experience that he has recently had. On behalf of all senators, I warmly welcome you back to the Australian Senate.

Honourable senators: Hear, hear!

Australia does have, as we know, one of the best health systems in the world. It is supported by dedicated clinicians who work hard to ensure that their patients receive safe and high-quality care. As you have outlined, though, in your personal experience, things can go wrong, and ongoing work is needed to reduce the impact of adverse events on Australian patients and their families. The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care provides support and guidance to clinicians in the management and improvement of hospital-acquired complications. A national list of hospital-acquired complications has been developed by clinicians to support hospitals in monitoring public safety. This list provides a subset of hospital-acquired complications that were prioritised by clinicians based on preventability, patient impact severity, health service impact and clinical priority.

In the National Health Reform Agreement, jurisdictions—because obviously a lot of this is primarily the jurisdiction of the states and territories—have agreed to improve patient outcomes for hospital-acquired complications. To incentivise patient safety and quality through improved patient outcomes, hospital funding is reduced for any episode of admitted acute care where a hospital-acquired complication occurs. This reduced funding is then used by the state or territory governments to deliver safety and quality improvement programs to support clinicians deliver better patient outcomes.