Quality Improvement Policy

The aim of the quality improvement policy is to provide health care of a high standard, assessment of staff and procedures against industry standards, and maintain the principles of continuous improvement.

To achieve this aim;

• All staff work towards the vision statement for the health campus with regular tri-monthly meetings to check progress.
• All staff work within the industry legislation and awards.
• The campus is governed by the OHS act to ensure a safe workplace. To assist with this aim, staff are active participants in monitoring the work place and work practices for potential hazards.
• Quality assurance is achieved by the regular monitoring and assessment of work practices. Staff are encouraged to become quality assurance representatives and will receive training sessions to assist them in this role. These representatives then work in each section with their co-workers and are vigilant in looking for ways in which to improve practice.
• Innovation in work practices is encouraged, and staff are recognised for best practice and innovative ideas at Sunset Bay. They are announced in the Sunset Bay magazine and awards given at the end of year ball.

All staff are an active and important part of the procedure of continuous improvement at the Sunset Bay Health Campus.

At Sunset Bay, we also conduct a lot of research with our clients, members of the local community, and our own staff, to get their feedback on our service. One key way of doing this is through surveys and questionnaires, including:

• Mail out surveys - survey forms are sent out and their responses analysed. This is a method used to gather feedback on specific topics, but mail out surveys tend to have a poor response rate because people are not keen to take time out to send back a letter.
• In-house surveys - this is another form of survey, but it’s done within Sunset Bay rather than via mail. We may ask clients (and sometimes staff) to answer specific questions that we would like feedback on. An example of an in-house survey is the question card that clients fill out when they leave hospital, which asks for feedback on areas relating to their stay with us.
• Telephone surveys - we may telephone clients, previous clients or members of the community to gather answers to specific questions or issues. This is not a preferred method, because it is very time consuming and many people don’t wish to be bothered with telephone surveys.
• Suggestion Box - we find this to be one of the best ways to gather feedback. Our suggestion boxes are placed in central, easily accessible areas such as by reception desks, and staff and customers are invited to place any suggestions they may have for improvements in the organisation. This works well because all responses are anonymous and people can say whatever they like.
• Informal research - we encourage all staff to seek feedback from clients, simply by asking questions.

If any staff member receives negative feedback regarding any aspect of a client’s experience with Sunset Bay, they must pass this on to a supervisor or the quality assurance officer immediately, so that action can be taken where required.

Monitoring tasks in the workplace.

Another key quality improvement strategy is to monitor tasks that people perform as part of their day-to-day duties in the workplace. This helps us to identify practices, processes and procedures that could be improved in some way to improve efficiency and professional standards within the workplace.

You may be required to participate in a monitoring process, which often involves observing and timing you as you perform different tasks. It may even be as specific as to write down how the task was performed, step by step. The only way we can identify where a process or practice needs improvement is to firstly assess how it is currently being done, and then see if there is a better way of doing it. Don’t take it as a threat to how you are working, we are trying to make your life or job easier by this assessment and improve the way we do things here at Sunset Bay.