Forum - National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards

The Chiropractic Board of Australia (the Board) held a virtual forum for its key stakeholders on 28 July 2022 on the National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards.

Ms Kim Packham from the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care addressed the forum and gave an overview of the new National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards. She went on to talk about clinical governance in the health system more broadly, its inception and its drivers; and spoke in more detail about some of the standards.

Following the presentation on clinical governance, a panel comprising four members took questions from forum attendees on topics including accreditation of clinical governance frameworks in the professions where the accreditation exists; the potential financial costs of accreditation; and the importance of partnering with consumers.

Attendees were invited to reflect on the benefits of implementing clinical governance frameworks to embed safety and ongoing quality improvement into practice; effective partnership and communication with patients who may have varying degrees of health literacy; how practitioners could engage with the standards; and establishing practices that can help prevent patient concerns resulting in notifications.

The pre-session reading and resources provided to participants are here:

• The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care media release about the new standard
• The Commission’s launch video of the Primary and Community Healthcare Standards
• The National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards
• Fact sheet - Implementing the National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards

You can watch the recording here:

Panellists, moderator and speaker

The forum was moderated by Victorian Board member Professor Anna Ryan from the University of Melbourne. Prof Ryan is a chiropractor and a medical doctor, currently working as an academic and researcher for the Melbourne Medical School at the University of Melbourne. You can read more about our Board members here.

The Board was pleased to introduce Ms Kim Packham to present to the forum. A pharmacist by background, Ms Packham has been the Manager of Primary Health Care and National Standards at the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care since 2019. In this role, she has worked with healthcare providers, consumers and patients, national peak bodies and Primary Health Networks to develop the National Safety and Quality Primary and Community Healthcare Standards; Australia’s first, nationally consistent safety and quality standards developed specifically for the sector. Her focus currently is driving improvements in patient safety through the implementation of, and accreditation to, the Primary and Community Healthcare Standards.

Following the presentation by Ms Packham, a panel discussion and question and answer session was held. The panel members were Dr Murray Thomas, Mrs Colleen Papadopoulos, and Dr Mark Bartolo. Some highlights from the discussion included the potential for the new standards to serve as an important tool for practice quality assurance; the value of asking patients about their experiences of their care; and the potential for practitioners from various clinical backgrounds to reflect together on the new Standards. You can read more about the panellists below:

Dr Murray Thomas graduated in 1977 and has been a full-time private practice dentist providing care in Chisholm in Canberra for the last 22 years. Dr Thomas has been active in dental regulation since 2005, firstly in the ACT, and then on the Dental Board of Australia since 2012. He was appointed Chair of the Dental Board in October 2018. Dr Thomas has been a champion of accreditation of dental practices since 2008. He continues his involvement with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care through several committees and working parties.

Mrs Colleen Papadopoulos is an experienced Chartered Governance Professional with expertise bringing the health consumer and disability perspective to the development of co-designed solutions and policies that promote inclusive and accessible work, social, civic and built environments. Mrs Papadopoulos holds a Master of Public Health with specialist knowledge in performance auditing and investigatory inquiry; administrative justice principles and decision-making; governance principles and frameworks; public health programs; policy, planning and evaluation. Mrs Papadopoulos brings her perspective as health provider and health consumer to the Chiropractic Board of Australia as a Community Member.

Dr Mark Bartolo has been in continuous chiropractic practice since 1993 and has other, extensive professional experiences including a range of tertiary and professional education roles. These include working with RMIT University between December 1994 and February 2002 in undergraduate programs and their fledgling international chiropractic programs; working with a private TAFE provider from 2002 through to 2010 (remedial massage and myotherapy); holding a professional mentoring role with both Chiropractors Registration Board of Victoria and then AHPRA until 2021, and more recently, a return to chiropractic clinical education in November 2021.