The Cardiovascular Learning Health Network (CVDLHN) brings cardiac and stroke clinicians, researchers, academics, and consumers together to improve the safety and quality of cardiovascular healthcare delivered in Victoria.
Clinicians, academics, and those with a lived experience of cardiovascular disease form the Victorian network that collaborates and shares information and experiences with each other to drive system wide improvements in cardiovascular health.
The Cardiovascular LHN advisory and data committees provide leadership, coordination of activities and support to the LHN.
Vision statement: A healthcare system that demonstrates consumer-focused and equitable provision of the safest and highest quality cardiovascular care to Victorians.
- Consumer focused care – informed by the needs, outcomes and experience of end users who are active participants in their care.
- Safe care - effective, timely, accurate, and without harm.
- Quality care - based on best available evidence and value.
Mission statement: Engage with clinicians and consumers to drive sustainable improvements in the safety and quality of cardiovascular care for Victorians.
Our people
Consumer lead: Judy Gregurke
After advocating for consumers in aged care, retirement living, and disability reforms, Judy is currently drawing on her personal health journey and experiences to facilitate authentic collaboration and partnership between consumers and clinicians within the CVDLHN. Judy is committed to enriching consumer roles in the CVDLHN, valuing their viewpoints and working towards common objectives. Partnering with fellow consumers, Judy intends to broaden our engagement with consumers, placing a strong emphasis on showcasing lived experiences.
Clinical Lead: A/Prof. Mark Horrigan
A/Prof Mark Horrigan has a long association with us. He is current the Cardiovascular Clinical Lead and co-chair of the LHN. Mark is based at Austin Health where he has enjoyed a long career as a cardiologist and clinician-researcher, serving patients in urban and rural Victoria. He is an advocate and pioneer for new, data-driven multidisciplinary models of care to reduce practice variation and improve patient experience and outcomes. Mark values the contributions of consumers, researchers, and clinicians from diverse specialties in delivering high value patient-centred care. His collaborative approach seeks to influence the landscape of cardiovascular care in Victoria, placing paramount focus on ensuring safety and maintaining quality standards.
Stroke Clinical Advisor/CVD LHN Data Group Chair: A/Prof. Ben Clissold
Associate Professor Clissold is a clinical and research neurologist, practicing at Monash Health, a renowned tertiary university hospital, as well as University Hospital Geelong, Victoria’s largest regional health service. He is the Head of inpatient/stroke services at Barwon Health and actively participates in hyperacute stroke management at Monash Health, Victoria’s second statewide endovascular clot retrieval centre, and at Barwon Health. Ben holds the position of Stroke Advisor and Chair of the Data Committee for the CVDLHN and is an active participant in the Victorian Stroke Telemedicine Service.
Advisory group
The CVDLHN Advisory Group is co-chaired by our Consumer Lead, Judy Gregurke and our Clinical Lead, Dr. Mark Horrigan. Membership consists of various healthcare experts (cardiologists, neurologists, nurse practitioners, allied health, researchers, consumers, health improvement specialists and healthcare leaders). The advisory group actively promotes and facilitates the meaningful involvement of consumers and the sector. It offers guidance on CVDLHN’s activities, particularly on system-wide matters, and provides necessary advice and direction to assist us and the Department of Health when needed.
Data group
The Data Group is chaired by our Stroke Clinical Advisor, A/Prof Ben Clissold. Membership consists of various data experts (researchers, cardiologist, neurologist, nurse practitioners, allied health, consumers and health improvement specialists and healthcare leaders). The CVDLHN Data Group Offers specialised knowledge in data analytics, encompassing the recognition, comprehension and use of data to bolster the CVDLHN's endeavours.
For more information, please contact cardiovascularlhn@safercare.vic.gov.au
Opportunities to get involved
Cardiovascular Summit
The Cardiovascular Summit will be held on 14 February 2024. It will showcase Victorian cardiovascular initiative achievements and launch the new Victorian Cardiovascular Dashboard.
The event will provide a platform for knowledge exchange, cross-sector collaboration, and celebration of achievements across the state. The purpose of the summit is to share learnings, resources and care models trialled and tested within the health sector. It aims to inspire health services with learnings for local testing or implementation. More details to come.
Cardiovascular Improvement Projects
For information and resources from current or recently completed improvement projects, please refer to the links below:
- Cardiovascular Nurse Ambassadors (Active)
- Heart Failure Breakthrough Series Collaborative (Complete)
- Heart Helper Pilot (Active)
- Digital Cardiac Rehab Pilot (Complete)
- Rapid Access Atrial Fibrillation Clinics (Complete)
- Timely Management of Chest Pain Pilot (Active)
Clinical Conversations
Victorian Cardiovascular Dashboard
Purpose
The Victorian Cardiovascular Dashboard (VCD) is the flagship project of the Cardiovascular LHN. It is an interactive PowerBI dashboard that will provide health services with a sector wide view of important safety and quality metrics for cardiac and stroke services provided in Victoria.
The dashboard will enable health services to regularly monitor, track and benchmark their observed rates against peer-grouped hospitals and the state aggregate. Health services with authorised access will be able to drill down to their own patient level data to facilitate case reviews.
The VCD measures will provide a reliable data source to support quality improvement initiatives and measure the impact of local improvement efforts.
Functions
- 12-month rolling risk adjusted rate and non-adjusted observed cases
- 12-month rolling funnel plot
- Health service data comparison, i.e. local health service, peer-group, health service partnerships, and state data
- Patient demographics data slicing, i.e. age, sex, aboriginal status, socioeconomic status, length of stay
- Unit record data (limited to individual hospital only)
- Drill down insights for major diagnostic categories
The VCD measures will expand over time and the dashboard will be updated to broadly profile cardiovascular care in Victoria.
Intended audience
- Executives and board members
- Directors and clinicians providing cardiovascular care
- Quality and safety leads
- Victorian Agency for Health Information (VAHI)
- Department of Health
Access to the VCD and VAHI data portal is reserved for public hospitals to guide monitoring and improvements in clinical care. Data requests for research purposes should be raised via the VAHI Data Request Hub.
Dashboard access
For current users of the VAHI data portal, access will be available from 14 February 2024. If you are a new user, you will require approval from your hospital to access the VCD. Please contact cardiovascularlhn@safercare.vic.gov.au for onboarding instructions and to identify your health service authoriser.
Newsletter subscription
Please subscribe to the Cardiovascular LHN’s updates if you would like to receive regular news about our activities.
For more information, please contact cardiovascularlhn@safercare.vic.gov.au.