“Improving safety and quality of care should be a central concern for all those in the healthcare system: policy makers, managers and health practitioners alike.”
Taskforce on quality in
Australian Healthcare
June 1996
QUALITY AND BUDGET
equal partners in health
Quality Framework for NSW Health
Steering Committee
January 1999
NSWHEALTH
1
foreword
With the increasing recognition that a cogent means of evaluating and improving the quality of health services being provided to consumers was needed across the health system in NSW, a committee was formed which was to provide the NSW Minister for
Health with advice on the most effective way of achieving this goal.
In response to this challenge, The NSW Ministerial Advisory Committee on Quality in
Health Care and The State Continuous Improvement Steering Committee, in collaboration with NSW Health, has developed The Framework for Managing the Quality of Health Services in NSW. It is the result of broad consultation with key stakeholders in health, both locally and nationally which will continue into the future.
This document is the first step in the development of a co-ordinated approach to monitoring and managing the quality of health care in NSW. This initiative provides the foundation for achieving many of the goals for NSW Health which have been identified in
Strategic Directions for Health 1998-2003.
The Framework for Managing the Quality of Health Services in NSW is a practical, wellfounded approach by which effective clinical governance can be implemented in NSW.
This is aimed at achieving a balance between the emerging focus on corporate governance and the corporate responsibility for the quality of clinical care. It identifies a new focus for health care delivery which views accountability for quality and for budget control as equal performance indicators in health management.