INQ159

ACT Ambulance Service (ACTAS) should revise its Business Plan to address key priorities and activities for each key service delivery function. This would include clearer expected outputs to be delivered annually and their prioritisation.

ACTAS should develop and implement policies and guidance to staff on how complaints should be assessed and actioned, including timeliness targets.

ACTAS should develop a policy that provides direction on what type of feedback it will seek, from whom it will seek the feedback, and how this feedback will be used to improve the patient care experience.

ACTAS should establish a clinical information database that:
• enables the tracking and analysis of patient care records;
• facilitates improvements to the clinical care of patients; and

ACTAS should improve patient care processes by:
• developing risk-based procedures for selecting, planning and conducting ‘Patient Care Record Reviews’, ‘Specific Reviews’ and ‘Medical Reviews’;
• monitoring whether these reviews are carried out as planned; and

ACTAS should conduct formal reviews of its clinical procedures manuals in consultation with its Clinical Advisory Committee, and develop guidance to oversight these reviews.

ACTAS should specify and document the role of each of its various clinical governance processes, how they relate to each other, and how these will be managed, measured and monitored within an overarching clinical framework.

ACTAS should implement systems to enable the accurate collection and measurement of non-emergency ambulance service bookings to facilitate monitoring of performance and the provision of accurate advice to Government.

ACTAS should improve systems to manage its non-emergency transport services, provide training and guidance to staff on use of these systems, and implement a quality assurance process.

ACTAS should develop policies and guidelines to assist ambulance officers’ decisions on whether or not to transport a patient to hospital.

ACTAS should develop and implement as a matter of priority, appropriate strategies to address declining response times.

ACTAS should:
• develop appropriate guidance and procedures on ambulance dispatch decisions;
• collate and monitor information on ambulance dispatching; and

ACTAS should log all emergency calls on CAD to document non-ambulance dispatch decisions, and to provide more complete data on demand.

ACTAS should enhance its approach to demand modelling in order to better guide current and future ambulance resourcing by:
• identifying the drivers of demand and what data it will collect and collate in order to model future demand; and

ACTAS should enhance its approach to risk management by:
• systematically identifying risks to the delivery of services;
• developing and implementing appropriate mitigation strategies; and
• systematically monitoring risks and their treatments.

ACTAS should develop a comprehensive performance management framework that includes key performance indicators and targets aligned to its service delivery activities, to help inform management and stakeholders of its performance.

ACTAS should develop a set of standards to measure and monitor patient satisfaction, so that improvements to the service can be made, based on patient satisfaction information.