SEMINAR: Preventing the next Dr Death

Presented by the Statistical Society of Australia, W.A. Branch, this talk will provide some examples of how this accountability works in identifying hospitals, departments and individual doctors who are not performing as expected. The media have provided extensive coverage of the problems for patients and hospitals when there is a Dr Death working in the system as happened in Bundaberg, Queensland in 2005. WA Health has taken the lessons from several such inquiries to heart and SMAHS is leading the way in monitoring clinical outcomes identifying poorly performing clinicians before they do too much damage to patients. Central to these investigations is the use of the VLAD technique (Variable Life Adjusted Display) as popularised by Queensland Health after Bundaberg. This process also gives us the ability to answer questions such as “Do I need to travel directly to Royal Perth if I have my heart attack in Safety Bay or should I stop off at Rockingham Hospital?” or “Who will give me the best outcome for my knee replacement?”. Examples of clinical governance techniques using this tool and other statistical techniques to improve clinical outcomes will be presented.

About the speaker: Dr Sharon Evans is a biostatistician with over 20 years experience in clinical research in New Zealand and at King Edward in Western Australia. In 2003 she was asked to set up clinical governance systems at KEMH after the Douglas Inquiry so that the Executive team at the hospital would “never not know” again. In 2008 she was offered the position of Manager Clinical Governance for the South Metropolitan Area Health Service (SMAHS) encompassing Royal Perth, Fremantle, Bentley, Armadale and Rockingham Hospitals. Clinical governance systems, designed in collaboration with clinicians, link information from a range of sources to permit timely review and assure the public that we are providing a safe and efficient service that is continually under review and improvement. Thus a practice of ‘defensible accountability’ was born.

Members and guests are invited to mingle over wine and cheese from 5:30 p.m. onwards in the Seminar Room 3-5 area, School of Population Health, University of Western Australia. Following the meeting you are invited to dine with the speaker at a nearby restaurant. Visitors are welcome.