Our standards of care

Safety and quality of care

At Epworth we strive to deliver patient centred care that is of a high quality and safe. We are committed to making your hospital stay a safe, positive and as enjoyable as possible.

Please review our "What matters to you, matters to us" document that outlines how we will partner with you in your journey with us.

One way we assess our approach to patient safety is to evaluate how well we do through monitoring and responding to a variety of information sources:

• patient feedback
• patient outcomes through clinical incidents and clinical registries 
• internal and external audits

Learn more about performance

• patient experience
• falls prevention
• pressure injuries
• Clinical quality registries
• Clinical Institutes

Falls prevention

In hospital, injuries from falls are one of the leading causes of harm and death experienced in older Australians (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare, Hospital-Acquired Complication: Falls resulting in fracture or intracranial injury 2018).

At Epworth, we take falls seriously. When there is a fall, we investigate to identify learnings or opportunities for improvement to enhance the care we provide. These learnings are shared across the organisation to ensure that the care we provide is evidence based, best practice and consistent.

At Epworth, we strive to help keep you safe from falls. We achieve this through a number of initiatives, including:

• risk assessment: your nurse will assess your risk of falling on admission and at intervals throughout your stay
• conversations on how to keep you safe. Your nurse and healthcare team will talk to you about your risk of falling and discuss strategies to prevent you from falling. These strategies may include appropriate footwear, supervision in the bathroom, or use of an appropriate gait aid (such as a walking frame). Detailed information is available in the Epworth Falls Prevention Brochure
• hourly rounding. In order to keep you safe, your nurse will check on you each hour and ensure that your call bell is within reach, offer assistance with re-positioning and supervision/assistance to the toilet if required

How does Epworth Perform?

Epworth benchmarks its falls performance against The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare (The Commission) Hospital Acquired Complications data-set. The average rate of falls published by The Commission is four falls with serious injury per 10,000 admissions. Epworth's performance over the last three years is better than average. 

Rate of Falls resulting in fracture or head injury per 10,000 admissions 

Pressure injuries

Pressure injuries are an international patient safety risk and can cause the patient severe pain, longer hospital length of stay and increased care needs when patients return home. A pressure injury may also be known as a bed sore or pressure ulcer. Pressure injuries are areas of damage to the skin and underlying tissue, such as blisters or breaks in the skin. They can be caused by unrelieved pressure (i.e. not moving) or friction (i.e. using your heels and elbows to move yourself in bed). 

At Epworth, we take pressure injuries seriously. We investigate all pressure injuries that develop in our care to identify any learnings or opportunities for improvement that can enhance the care we provide. These learnings are then shared across the organisation to ensure that the care we provide is evidence based, best practice and consistent. 

At Epworth, we strive to help keep you safe from pressure injuries. We achieve this through a number of initiatives, including:

• risk assessment. Your nurse will assess your risk of developing a pressure injury on admission and at intervals throughout your stay
• skin integrity checks. Your nurse will assess the condition of your skin at least daily
• risk reduction conversations. Your nurse and healthcare team will talk to you about your risk of developing a pressure injury and strategies you can use to prevent you from developing one. These strategies may include regular movement, use of pressure relieving devices and the importance of adequate nutrition
• hourly rounding. In order to keep you safe, when your nurse rounds on you, they will encourage you to change positions

How does Epworth perform?

Epworth benchmarks the rate of pressure injuries acquired in hospital against The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare's (The Commission) Hospital Acquired Complications data-set. The average rate published by The Commission is 10 patients with serious pressure injuries per 10,000 admissions. Epworth has consistently performed better than the average rate reported by The Commission. A serious injury is defined as a stage III, IV or unspecified ulcer or pressure injury. Stage III and IV injuries involve damage to all layers of the skin and potentially bone, tendon and muscle. 

Rate of patients who sustained a serious pressure injury per 10,000 admissions