Assessment 1: Written piece examining a public inquiry into a health system failure Due date: 1700hrs Friday 18th August (week 4) 1000 words (30%) Both nationally and internationally, there have been...

Assessment 1: Written piece examining a public inquiry into a health system failure
Due date: 1700hrs Friday 18th August (week 4)
1000 words (30%)
Both nationally and internationally, there have been public inquiries into the failure of health
systems to deliver safe and evidence based care.
The investigations into the Bundaberg Base Hospital/Queensland Health, The Campbelltown
and Camden Hospital and the Mid Staffordshire Trust are all high profile examples of such
inquiries.
This assessment requires you to select and explore one prominent inquiry (from those listed
above) and to answer the question posed in two only of the four modules below;
Clinical Governance
Safety and Quality
Leadership and Management
Organisational Culture
A brief introductory paragraph is required to identify which inquiry and which two modules
you will address in your response. This introduction is not included in the word count. As a
scholarly piece, please use a third person writing style.
Your response for each module will be 500 words (1000 words in total).
You must support your assertions with evidence from the contemporary literature. A brief list
of resources has been provided to assist you in beginning to explore the context of these
health service inquiries.
Please submit this assessment through the Turnitin portal and use the assessment template
with provided on LMS.
1. Clinical Governance
The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards defines clinical governance as:
"..the system by which the governing body, managers, clinicians and staff share
responsibility and accountability for the quality of care, continuously improving,
minimising risks, and fostering an environment of excellence in care for
consumers/patients/residents .."
Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (2004) ACHS News, Vol 12 1-2, ACHS,
Sydney.
The Victorian Clinical Governance Policy Framework; a guidebook (2009) identifies the
following components of the clinical governance framework.
From the model above and listed below, identify two components of the Clinical
Governance Framework.
Priorities and strategy Continuity of care
Planning and resource allocation Roles and responsibilities
Organisation & committee structure,
systems and processes
Report review and respond to
performance
Legislative compliance Measure performance
Culture
Describe how these two elements may have influenced the system failure in your selected
case study.
Use the literature to support your assertions.
2. Quality and Safety
Identify and describe a risk management strategy that the organisation in your inquiry could
have undertaken to prevent the health system failure.
Such strategies may include:
Credentialing
Reporting and acting upon near misses and incidents
Accreditation and benchmarking
Auditing
Monitoring and responding to complaints
How might the implementation of this risk management strategy have changed the
outcome in your chosen inquiry?
3. Leadership and management
Identify and describe two traits/characteristics of an open and transparent leader.
Were the characteristics evident in the key figures in your selected inquiry? Use the evidence
from the inquiry to support this assertion.
Briefly examine how these characteristics influence the delivery of safe patient care.
Use evidence from contemporary literature to support your assertions.
4. Organisational culture
Define the term Whistle-blower.
Describe what influence the organisational culture have on the quality of care in your
chosen inquiry?
Did the culture of the organisation help to hide or disclose the failure? Justify your response
with evidence from the literature.