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Hospitals
to be
assessed
By DEBBIE CAMERON
The ACT Health Authority has
agreed that Royal Canberra Hospital
and Woden Valley Hospital should
prepare for accreditation in line with
the recommendations of a report on
ACT public hospitals.
The chairman of the ACT Health
Authority, Mr John Bissett, yesterday
said that the hospitals would be apply
ing for accreditation by the Australian
Council of Hospital Standards during
1986. •
The report, by the Public Accounts
Committee and tabled in Parliament,
said it was "unsatisfactory that the
major public hospitals in the ACT are
not accredited".
However, Mr Bissett said that the
committee's recommendations did
not amount to an order to "upgrade
services".
"The joint committee made no
such statement," Mr Bissett said.
"The committee merely said the hos
pital accreditation process was valu
able and it was unsatisfactory that the
two major hospitals in the ACT were
not accredited.
"The committee recommended the
authority require Royal Canberra and
Woden Valley Hospitals to begin the
process of preparing for assessment at
the earliest opportunity."
Mr Bissett said the audit had identi
fied areas in hospital administration
that "could be improved" but had
also said that "in broad terms both
hospitals were comparable to similar
hospitals in Victoria and NSW".
Mr Bissett said that 14 of the com
mittee's 27 recommendations had al
ready been adopted and "largely im
plemented" by the authority.
He said that the balance of the
recommendations were under con
sideration but some could not be
implemented in advance of the new
authority structure.
"The new Hospital Services Board
will look at the areas of clinical, peer
and utilisation review processes and
patient admission controls as a matter
of high priority."
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