Discover the latest projects to emerge from our Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Redesign course, and the key learnings you could adapt into your own health service.
So far this year, more than 50 NSW Health staff have been recognised for completing the Graduate Certificate in Healthcare Redesign course. They join more than 800 redesign champions across the state who have previously graduated the course run by the ACI's Centre for Healthcare Redesign in partnership with the University of Tasmania.
The course teaches frontline staff vital skills in project and change management, to undertake improvements and innovations for their local health services. These projects are then shared via the Innovation Exchange for all health staff to discover, learn and apply similar approaches, where there is a need.
Graduates in the latest cohort have focused on addressing the burden on emergency departments (EDs), reducing inefficiency and improving workflows in a range of health settings.
Participating in the redesign program has been an invaluable experience for our team. Through the program, we were able to improve waiting times and streamline the patient journey, significantly enhancing access to care. On a personal level, I gained a deep understanding of process analysis using the redesign methodology, learned to validate and interpret data, and developed communication strategies to implement change.
Addressing the impact on emergency departments
Graduates from Murrumbidgee Local Health District (LHD) have set out to address the burden placed on the Wagga Wagga Base Hospital ED. Previously, there was a lack of alternative referral pathways for low-acuity ED presentations, resulting in patients defaulting to the ED. The team has developed a new model of care, the Murrumbidgee Care ConneXion, providing a centralised contact point for community-facing clinicians. It is now moving through the implementation planning and engagement phase within the district.
A project from the Northern NSW LHD is working to improve front-door patient flow processes for adult mental health consumers needing acute mental health inpatient services. The team has successfully updated the district’s ‘ED to mental health’ transfer of care process and standardised early mental health assessment in the ED.
The MindfulED project also addresses ED presentations; in this case at St Vincent’s Hospital Sydney where mental health accounts for approximately 10% of all ED presentations (the national average is 3%). By delivering care in the right environment, the project aims to improve mental health patient experience and reduce wait times, time to treatment and overall length of hospital stay, and improve dignity and comfort.
ED alternatives for care of older people and palliative care patients
The graduating team from South Western Sydney LHD designed and established the Community Older Person Intervention and Liaison Outreach Team (COPILOT). COPILOT provides an alternative to low-acuity ED presentations for people aged over 65 years, and has prevented 2,377 ED presentations across the district between January and June 2024. The new community arm of COPILOT has also prevented 235 hospital admissions leading to 3,384 saved bed days during that time.
The team from Northern Sydney LHD focused on Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH), which has the largest number of patients admitted through ED who are eventually treated with palliative care intent. Their project on acute palliative care has developed a model of care and aims to commence service this month as an acute palliative care service offering prompt, expert and evidenced-based palliative care, supported by a dedicated team.
Tackling inefficiency and championing streamlined processes
The UBERMeds project aims to enhance the service delivery of inpatient medication to the East Block surgical service at Nepean Hospital by November 2024. While the project is ongoing, the Nepean Blue Mountains LHD redesign team has successfully implemented several initiatives to improve the issues identified.
Creating Healthy Smiles aims to ensure prompt access to dental care, a reduction in patient complaints and improved clinical outcomes at Sydney Dental Hospital and Oral Health Services. The project team is redesigning triage processes, improving appointment booking systems and enhancing discharge protocols. Initial outcomes have shown an improvement in the use of clinical time to manage general dental treatment and an increase in patient satisfaction.
Child and Family Health Services in Sydney LHD has experienced an increase in demand, rising client complexity and acuity. Their project, Re-think, Re-prioritise, Redesign for Child and Family Health (Triple-R for CAF), aims to enhance service access by streamlining workflows and processes.