Safer Care Victoria annual plan 2023–24

Our Annual Plan 2023–24 details the key activities we will undertake to achieve our vision of a safer healthcare system for all Victorians. It aligns to the strategic priorities in our Strategic Plan 2023-26. Some of our activities in 2023-24 include: 

Strategic Priority 1: Safety through leadership and reform 

• Continue to drive the use of data and evidence to improve clinical care and patient outcomes through our Learning Health Networks.
• Provide clinical leadership and expertise to the inquiry into women’s pain management, advancements to the paramedic workforce and rostering model for nurses and midwives, and protocol development for the Community Pharmacist Statewide Pilot.
• Progress the delivery of funded programs, including 100,000 Lives, the Mental Health Improvement Program and the Healthcare Worker Wellbeing Centre in partnership with consumers, clinicians and health services and using data and evidence to deliver results.
• Develop, implement, and evaluate a new program to grow and embed innovation across the healthcare sector.

Strategic Priority 2: Safety through strengthening governance 

• Design a new capability development package for all health services to create conditions for local safety and quality at a foundational and change agent level.
• Continue to support implementation of the statutory duty of candour and serious adverse patient safety event review requirements. This includes the development of resources for consumers and clinicians, such as online training modules and forums to build understanding, and support system-wide learning to prevent harm from recurring.

Strategic Priority 3: Safety through proactive monitoring 

• Establish a new minimum dataset of systemwide safety measures for early warning of risk of preventable harm.
• Develop a dataset for reporting on the statutory duty of candour with the Victorian Agency for Health Information.
• Establish the first Victorian Cardiovascular Dashboard to drive improved cardiovascular care across the state.

Strategic Priority 4: Safety through effective intervention

• Implement the Safer Care for Kids project, which includes delivering a statewide central parent escalation process, empowering families, children and carers to voice unresolved concerns and receive timely responses from their health service.
• Collaborate to reduce harm and improve outcomes in targeted areas including harm for high-risk patients in emergency departments, care for patients with hip fracture, and carers as part of the acute care team.
• Develop a morbidity and mortality framework and toolkit to support Victorian health services to enhance consistency, standardisation, and a systems-focussed approach to safety.