News

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‘Could it be sepsis?’ – updated pathways to help recognise and respond to sepsis

5 March 2024

On 12 February the Clinical Excellence Commission launched updated sepsis pathways; to help nurses, midwives and doctors answer the important question ‘could it be sepsis?’.

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High Risk Medicine standards have a new home on the CEC website

4 March 2024

Previously included in the NSW Health Policy Directive High-Risk Medicines Management, the standards have been separated and moved to the CEC website for ease of access.

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Anne Marie Imrie

Turning profound loss into greater good

19 February 2024

The loss of her son, Xavier, spurred first-time mum, Ann-Maree Imrie, to speak openly to the CEC about her experience and advocate for stillbirth awareness and prevention.

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Every week counts for a healthier start to life

16 February 2024

On 20 February, the Clinical Excellence Commission will co-host Every Week Counts, a conference on preterm birth, early birth and stillbirth prevention.

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Prof Jacqueline Close awarded a Member of the Order of Australia

2 February 2024

The Clinical Excellence Commission's Board Member Prof Jacqueline Close has been awarded a Member of the Order of Australia (AM).

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Medical device reforms: what will it mean for clinicians?

15 December 2023

The Clinical Excellence Commission is working with NSW Health agencies to ensure medical device reforms introduced nationally are embedded into local safety and quality processes.

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CEC Falls White Paper attracts attention at international conference on fall prevention in Perth

8 December 2023

Fall Prevention in NSW White Paper 2023, the new seminal work on fall prevention in NSW from the CEC, received much attention and interest in Perth last week

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Putting your finger on safety culture issues in the workplace: The evidence-based, structured approach

5 December 2023

Activities that support a safety culture have been shown to improve staff self-compassion and personal wellbeing.

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CEC releases Fall Prevention in NSW White Paper 2023

20 November 2023

The CEC has released the Fall Prevention in NSW White Paper 2023 outlining the staggering cost and impact of falls to older people in NSW and healthcare.

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Tighter measures for medical device safety

16 November 2023

The CEC is helping healthcare professionals in NSW navigate a set of national reforms to make medical devices safer.

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The upward spiral – the benefits of kindness and safety culture

14 November 2023

The Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) helps teams across NSW Health on journeys of safety culture improvement.

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Is there a problem that needs fixing? CEC masterclass on using data for improvement

7 November 2023

On October 26 Senior Improvement Advisor at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) Lloyd Provost led a CEC masterclass, “Variation and Data for Improvement”.

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People partners and Clinical Excellence Commission connecting to improve healthcare safety

27 October 2023

On October 19 the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) ‘People Partners’ healthcare consumer representatives met with the CEC to share their experience and to connect.

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Fetal Safety Masterclass – Maternity teams working together for safe, woman-centred care

23 October 2023

The Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) held the inaugural ‘Fetal Safety Masterclass’, bringing together obstetricians and midwives from across NSW Health maternity services.

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Life Saving Drugs Register Goes Online

18 October 2023

Today the Life Saving Drugs Register has gone online to provide vital stock information of life saving drugs, including 31 antidotes and 10 antivenoms, stored across NSW Health facilities in near real-time.

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The relentless pursuit of preventing infection

16 October 2023

The Clinical Excellence Commission's Kathy Dempsey knows all too well that infection prevention and control should never drop off a health professional's radar.

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The role of patients in navigating future healthcare

17 September 2023

When patients have a voice in their own care, not only do they leverage better health outcomes for themselves, but they bring benefits to the healthcare system as a whole.

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Safety program leads to fewer patient falls in Southern NSW

23 August 2023

In collaboration with the Clinical Excellence Commission, the Southern NSW Local Health District, Safe Care Project has reduced the number of serious falls by 33% in the participating seven hospital wards.

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Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy (HIE) webinar - Wednesday 28 June

26 June 2023

The NSW Health Hypoxic Ischaemic Encephalopathy (HIE) Expert Advisory Group (EAG) was established at the request of the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC).

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King's Birthday Honours for Board Chair and Colleagues

16 June 2023

Clinical Excellence Commission Board Chair Prof Andrew Wilson has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the King's Birthday Honours 2023.

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First Applied Safety and Quality Program Graduates

9 June 2023

Eight new graduates from Hunter New England Local Health District are the first in the state to complete all programs of the statewide Safety & Quality Essentials Pathway.

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Lorraine Lovitt

Lifetime Achievement Award for Work with Falls

8 June 2023

Lorraine Lovitt has been awarded the NSW Fall Prevention and Healthy Ageing Network Lifetime Achievement Award.

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Restorative Just Culture Learning Symposium

2 June 2023

Health leaders from across NSW joined our Restorative Just Learning Culture Symposium in May 2023 to help strengthen safety culture and leadership as part of the statewide Zero Suicide in Care initiative.

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Cathy Adams

Career midwife appointed to local health district board

18 April 2023

Clinical Excellence Commission Improvement Lead Dr Cathy Adams has recently been appointed to the Board of the Northern NSW Local Health District.

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Reflective practice workshop

Reflective Practice Workshops

28 September 2022

The Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) is inviting patient safety practitioners across the NSW Health system to register for a limited time reflective practice skills workshop designed specifically for their needs.

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BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare

Improving safety and reducing error in maternal health

24 August 2022

262 babies are born each day in NSW and many of these births are associated with increasing numbers of known maternal complexities.

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BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare

Improvement, leadership and compassion central themes at quality and safety conference

28 July 2022

The BMJ International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare launched on Sunday July 24, 2022, in Sydney after a 2-year pandemic hiatus.

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Beard wrapping

Beard wrapping can improve safety for health staff unable to shave

16 June 2022

The CEC's Infection Prevention and Control team played a key role in research and guidance development to improve the safe use of P2/N95 respirators among health workers in the Sikh community.

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zero suicides in care goal

New toolkit supports zero suicides in care goal

3 June 2022

The Suicide Prevention Quality Improvement Toolkit is part of the Zero Suicides in Care program and aims to reduce suicide in people who are cared for in mental health services in NSW.

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Professor Michael Nicholl

Professor Michael Nicholl appointed CE

31 May 2022

Professor Michael Nicholl has been appointed the Chief Executive of the Clinical Excellence Commission.

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Embedding patient experience into healthcare

Embedding patient experience into healthcare

27 April 2022

Ensuring the patient perspective is embedded into how we care for patients across NSW is a core function of the Clinical Excellence Commission's Partnering with People Panel.

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Infection prevention the intention for all in healthcare

19 October 2021

This International Infection Prevention Week, October 17 to 23, the work of the state's infection prevention and control practitioners is more crucial than ever.

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CEC's M&M Masterclass Podcast Series

9 September 2021

To support the implementation of our Morbidity and Mortality (M&M) meetings guiding principles, a new CEC podcast series is available to listen or download on Android/iPhone and desktop.

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Reconnect with Quality and Safety Healthcare colleagues at Australasia's virtual International Forum

9 August 2021

The countdown is on to Australasia's virtual healthcare event of the year and, as proud regional partner, Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) is preparing to welcome clinicians from around the world to the International Forum on Quality and Safety in Healthcare, Australasia 2021.

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Vigilance on hand hygiene rewarded

5 May 2021

Hand hygiene now has rock star status in our COVID-19 world but it has long been fundamental in keeping patients safe from infection in healthcare settings. Like all good practices, maintaining standards relies on constant effort.

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Two awards recognise our role in NSW pandemic response

3 December 2020

Two health management awards from the inaugural Australian College of Health Service Management (ACHSM) NSW Branch Health Manager Leadership Awards mark the extensive contribution the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) has made to safe and effective healthcare during 2020.

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Our graduates striving for patient safety

15 October 2020

Clinical Excellence Commission team members Gabrielle Pilgrim and Danielle Murphy have graduated our Executive Clinical Leadership Program today after developing and presenting projects designed to improve patient safety and clinical quality.

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Introducing the NSW Healthy Ageing and Fall Prevention Network

8 July 2020

The beginning of a new financial year has seen the renewal of partnership between the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC) and Neuroscience Research Australia (NeuRa) for a further three years continuing the important work to reduce the incidence of falls in NSW.

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Officer of the Order of Australia for Prof Oates in Queen's Birthday honours

10 June 2020

Long-term CEC colleague, Emeritus Professor Kim Oates is a recipient of an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Queen's Birthday Honours announced Monday, 9 June 2020.

Professor Oates received recognition for distinguished service to paediatric medicine, as an advocate for child health and welfare, to medical education, and to professional societies.

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Graduates from across NSW present healthcare improvement ideas

28 February 2020

More than 40 senior health workers graduated the Clinical Excellence Commission's Executive Clinical Leadership Program last Thursday after completing a year of health improvement study.

The Clinical Leadership Program has been building a culture of health leaders across NSW for more than 13 years.

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Stop Sepsis, Save Lives

Safer from Sepsis in Australia

11 February 2020

New research from Macquarie University shows the Sepsis Kills adult sepsis pathway, developed by the Clinical Excellence Commission and used in NSW hospitals, is more effective than an internationally recommended model.

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World Patient Safety Day

2019 World Patient Safety Day – Speak up for patient safety

17 September 2019

The Clinical Excellence Commission is proud to support the first World Patient Safety Day on 17 September 2019, a day of recognition established by the World Health Organisation in May this year.

This year's theme is 'Patient Safety: a global health priority' and the slogan: 'Speak up for patient safety'.

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Staff tackling infections & medication safety among new health leaders

Staff tackling infections & medication safety among new health leaders

28 February 2019

TWO project officers from the Clinical Excellence Commission are among a group of more than 35 senior clinicians who graduated at our Executive Clinical Leadership Program.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Project Officer Lolita Tu and Medication Safety and Quality Officer Fiona Bailey each developed improvement programs related to their work within the CEC and supporting NSW public hospitals.

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Ms. Marr’s presentation titled “Reliable Healthcare is a Journey, not a Destination

Together Achieving Better Health Conference
Nepean Blue Mountains Event

9 November 2018

Clinical Excellence Commission's Chief Executive, Carrie Marr, and Director of Development, Alison Starr, attended the Together Achieving Better Health Conference, hosted by Nepean Blue Mountains Local Health District.

At the Conference, Ms. Marr's presentation, Reliable Healthcare is a Journey, not a Destination, was heard by a range of health professionals from across NSW.

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Clinical Excellence Commission has been awarded the Best Overall Poster Presentation

Palliative Care NSW Biennial State Conference

8–10 November 2018

The Clinical Excellence Commission has been awarded the Best Overall Poster Presentation for its poster 'Community Pharmacy Palliative Care Initiative', at the Palliative Care NSW Biennial State Conference, held in Kiama.

The conference theme was "Riding the Waves of Change" with presentations and discussions exploring how palliative and end of life care has been provided in the past, what the challenges are now, and how we can prepare to embrace opportunities in the future.

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Shanghai Hospital Delegation

Shanghai Hospital President Delegation

16 October 2018

On Thursday 11 October, the Clinical Excellence Commission presented to a senior health administrators delegation from Shanghai, China, at the invitation of the University of Sydney, who organised the delegation's two-week program from 8 - 19 October.

The delegation consisted of 24 presidents from the top Chinese public hospitals in Shanghai and two senior officers from the Shanghai Hospital Development Centre (SHDC) - the headquarters of Shanghai Municipal Hospital Group.

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Master Clinician's Guide to Quality and Safety

Master Clinician's Guide Launch

7 May 2018

NSW Health Secretary, Elizabeth Koff, officially launched the Master Clinician's Guide to Quality and Safety on 7 May. The Guide provides expert tools and resources to help healthcare staff foster a culture of safe, high-quality care.

Written by senior clinicians and safety experts, the Master's Guide is a follow-on from the
Clinician's Guide to Quality and Safety.

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REACH partner Naomi Day awarded for her commitment to improving healthcare

28 March 2018

We have a proud history of working in partnership with Grant and Naomi Day who have become powerful patient safety advocates and determined supporters of our REACH program, since the tragic death of their young son Kyran in 2013.

In March 2018, Naomi's endless spirit of co-operation and commitment to making healthcare better was recognised with her winning the Heart of Women award in her local community on the NSW North Coast.

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Prof Oates Honoured in Vietnam

16 March 2018

We were proud of our Director Undergrad Quality and Safety Education Prof Kim Oates who received the For People's Health Medal from the Vietnamese Government during a special ceremony in Hanoi this March.

Prof Oates is a leader in NSW healthcare and has been sharing his expertise with students and health staff in Vietnam for about a decade.

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Working together to reduce serious harm from falls

28 February 2018

More than 180 clinicians from 42 teams across the NSW health system met in Sydney on 28 February 2018 to reduce serious patient harm from falls in NSW hospitals.

The event was the second of four learning sets for the Falls Collaborative, with the third and fourth sets to run in May and September, respectively.

The main focus for the learning set was on reliability by design, using Quality Improvement Science.

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New electronic tool launched to help reduce VTE risk

19 February 2018

An electronic tool designed to assess a patient's risk of developing blood clots (also known as Venous Thromboembolism, or VTE) was launched at Prince of Wales Hospital on Monday 19 February 2018.

A collaboration between eHealth NSW and the Clinical Excellence Commission (CEC), the VTE risk assessment package has been designed to support clinicians in identifying, measuring and documenting the VTE risk for adult patients in the inpatient setting.

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Extending our REACH

Extending our REACH

24 August 2017

The NSW Clinical Excellence Commission is urging more NSW hospitals to embed its REACH program across their adult, paediatric and mental health units as the program officially extends its early work and aims to become a key patient safety tool across the state's hospitals.

REACH stands for: Recognise Engage Act Call Help is on its Way. REACH is a rapid response program that encourages patients and families to phone for urgent medical review if they feel a patient's condition is deteriorating and clinical staff are not responding.

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HAI - Healthcare Associated Infections

Researching and identifying healthcare infections

20 June 2017

The Clinical Excellence Commission is partnering with other health organisations to develop a statewide network for rapid detection of healthcare associated infection outbreaks.

The research will be led by Chief Investigators Dr Matthew O'Sullivan, Western Sydney Local Health District, NSW Health Pathology, and Joe-Anne Bendall, Clinical Excellence Commission.

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HARC scholar Amy Bisson from the CEC will study multi-drug resistant organisms.

HARC Scholar Sets Sights on Improving Response to Superbugs

5 June 2017

Healthcare Associated Infections project officer Amy Bisson is set to investigate ways to co-ordinate planned responses to multi-drug resistant organisms for NSW patients after being named a 2017 HARC Scholar by the Sax Institute.

Amy has an interest in the emerging threat posed by prominent super-bug carbapenemase-producing Enterobaceriaceae (CPE) which is posing huge challenges internationally.

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Clinical Decision Support Trial in NSW - 2016-17

Clinical Decision Support Trial in NSW 2016 - 2018

1 March 2017

The Pilot of a Clinical Decision Support (CDS) tool, called OrderWise™, developed by Canadian company MedCurrent is underway at Liverpool and Royal North Shore hospitals and will run throughout 2016-18, with support from the CEC and the NSW Ministry of Health.

The CDS tool is built into the CERNER platform and is combined with the UK Royal College of Radiologists’ evidence-based referral guidelines (iRefer) to address appropriate imaging for many patient presentations.

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Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program

CEC learning content recognised internationally

8 September 2016

Two learning and development programs, for which CEC was a major contributor, have been recognised through the Brandon Hall Group Excellence Awards Program.

Awarded to the Health Education Training Institute, End of Life Conversations took out the Gold Award for Best use of Blended Learning, and the Central Venous Access Devices training was awarded Silver in the Best Advance in Competencies and Skill Development category.

The Excellence Awards recognise organisations that have successfully deployed programs, strategies, modalities, processes, systems, and tools that have achieved measurable results. The program attracts entrants from leading corporations around the world, as well as mid-market and smaller firms.

SEPSIS KILLS: simple treatment saves lives - 25 January 2016

SEPSIS KILLS: simple treatment saves lives

25 January 2016

New research out in the Medical Journal of Australia shows NSW emergency departments have been able to improve how they identify and treat patients with sepsis with the Clinical Excellence Commission's SEPSIS KILLS program.

Sepsis is a medical emergency and the research shows simple, early treatment saves lives.

The paper's authors wrote the number of patients receiving antibiotics in the first 60 minutes had risen from 29.3% in 2009-11 to 52.2% in 2013. Each year about 6000 NSW patients are hospitalised with sepsis and since the introduction of SEPSIS KILLS about 150 lives are saved each year through the care improvements.
Read more: MJAMJA InSight

Hand Hygiene focus in SMH – 15 January 2016

Hand Hygiene focus in SMH

15 January 2016

Hand hygiene is one of the most important things health workers can do to protect their patients from infection but if you were a patient in hospital would you ask a health professional if they'd cleaned their hands?

In this edition of the Sydney Morning Herald, our clinical advisor Prof Kim Oates provides comment and says asking health professionals if they have cleaned their hands is not only okay but also a good start for any patient looking to protect themselves from the risk of infection.

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Orange Health Service 4AMU in implementing In Safe Hands

Orange Health Service implementing In Safe Hands

7 November 2012

Dr Charles Pain, Director, Health Systems Performance, Dr Gabriel Shannon, General Physician, Orange Health Service and Dr Jason Stein, Emory University Hospital, Atlanta, USA were interviewed by Angela Owens from ABC Central West. The interview focused on the work done at Orange Health Service 4AMU in implementing In Safe Hands and the use of Structured Interdisciplinary Bedside Rounds to improve teamwork and communication between clinicians.

Click here to listen ~ opens new window.