Expert Panel - Review of Elective Surgery and Emergency Access Targets under the National Partnership Agreement on Improving Public Hospital Services: Supplementary Annexure
1.2 Guiding Principles
In our First Report, these key messages and discussions formed the basis for a set of eleven ‘guiding principles’ that helped frame our thinking and advice. These principles are repeated below:
| Principle 1 | Targets and the changes required to meet them will require commitment right across the health and hospital system |
|---|---|
| Principle 2 | Hospital executives will need to work in partnership with clinicians to achieve sustainable change |
| Principle 3 | Clinical engagement and clinical leadership will be essential if the targets are to be met |
| Principle 4 | Targets must drive clinical redesign with a whole-of-hospital approach |
| Principle 5 | Clinical redesign must ensure patient safety and enhance quality of care |
| Principle 6 | Clinical redesign will improve system capacity and delivery of care |
| Principle 7 | Definitions need to be clear and consistent across all jurisdictions |
| Principle 8 | The performance of jurisdictions is not comparable |
| Principle 9 | Progress towards the targets needs to be linked with continual monitoring of safety and quality performance indicators and audit |
| Principle 10 | The impact of targets on demand needs to be monitored and early strategies developed to ensure achievements are sustainable |
| Principle 11 | Quality of training needs to be maintained |
