Programs Chartbook - Quality of Healthcare in NSW

What is it?

The Chartbook is:

• a tool for measuring and reporting safety and quality in the NSW health system at a state and area health service level
• a key resource to drive change within the NSW health system
• a plain English overview of the state of knowledge of the quality of healthcare services in NSW, designed for use by clinicians, but importantly, available to public and non-specialist audiences and
• a source of relevant information for area health services and Clinical Governance Units, in both tabular and graphical format with accompanying text that will interpret the findings, discuss their importance and evaluate their implications.

How will it be used?

The CEC expects The Chartbook will be used by different groups in different ways:

• by clinicians (looking at speciality-related data)
• by members of the public (looking at the relative performance of the health system across 63 charts and 13 clinical specialities)
• by members of the area health service executive/clinical governance units (looking at area comparators and get a broad understanding of their AHSs' relative performance, and an understanding of where to target future improvement activities)
• by academics and health system commentators (to provide a broad overview of the issues underlying quality health service delivery in NSW).

The Chartbook reports on the population of each area health service. Most charts show a five-year trend with 95% confidence intervals. In attempting to draw comparisons, care must be taken to consider other population variables.

The Chartbook demonstrates that the NSW health system is doing a number of things well, e.g. a significant sustained reduction in asthma admission rates following the introduction of the State Asthma Plan in 2001, and the rate of live term births with a low APGAR (viability) score is declining.

The Chartbook also highlights areas in which we can concentrate our efforts, e.g. increasing need for treatment of diabetes across most of NSW, and areas that require further investigation, e.g. differences in hysterectomy rates between urban and rural areas for women under 35 that may indicate differences in practice.

The Chartbook will be produced annually. Additional reports will be issued every twelve months and will be available as a matter of course on the CEC's website. Expert input has been sought and received on all indicators.

The Chartbook is a tool to drive change; to facilitate self-examination by clinicians and managers of our health care system. The real value of a tool such as The Chartbook, is that it allows us to monitor quality improvement initiatives over time and keep our eyes firmly focused on those areas where the greatest quality gains are to be made.