All Healthscope hospitals are fully accredited against the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards (NSQHSS), a mandatory set of standards established by the Australian Government for all public and private hospitals.

Accreditation involves a visit to the hospital from an independent team of expert health professionals who review the quality and safety of services provided. This occurs once every three years, in accordance with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Hospitals are measured against eight overarching standards with many different criteria including patient-centred care, medication management, clinical handover, infection prevention and staff education.

To see how your local Healthscope Hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

The Healthscope Corporate Office is also accredited by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS), using the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards - Corporate Program. This accreditation assesses how well we run our 38 hospitals and measures the entire organisation in areas such as risk management, quality improvement, consumer involvement, work health and safety, human resources and information technology services.

At the most recent Corporate Accreditation in August 2022, the Healthscope Corporate Office passed all 86 applicable criteria and was awarded full accreditation. Two recommendations were received. The accreditation report can be viewed here.

Clinical Governance

Healthscope Hospitals have a wide range of programs and protocols which ensure the continual enhancement of safety and optimal health care for all patients, visitors and employees.

Healthscope's Clinical Governance Plan is focused on delivering safe and effective patient-centred care, underpinned by eight key pillars:

At Healthscope, we are committed to providing patients with the best possible experience during their hospital stay. Patient experience often reflects the personal side of care. To evaluate how well we meet patient needs, we invite our patients to complete a survey after discharge.

Completion of our survey is voluntary and anonymous. Most patients fill in their surveys online. We conduct surveys continually throughout the year, which provides us with feedback that is more accurate than periodic surveys. Sample size has been building as we focus on electronic rather than paper survey formats.

Our senior hospital staff have access to Healthscope's survey results via an electronic Patient Experience Portal. This allows them to review feedback immediately and identify any opportunities for improvement. Maintaining anonymity, both positive and negative patient comments are shared with relevant staff. This is part of our commitment to provide the best possible experience for our patients.

Healthscope's survey results are also monitored by the Quality Department at Healthscope Corporate Office. Reports are presented to senior management and the Board.

Healthscope Hospitals

We have based our survey for non-mental health facilities on the Australian Hospital Patient Experience Question Set (AHPEQS) developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care for use in both public and private health services. (For information about surveys in our mental health facilities, please scroll down.)

One of our key questions is about the overall quality of treatment and care, which can be rated on a scale of 1 to 5, from 'very poor' to 'very good'. The graph below shows patients' responses during 2023.

This graph shows that the majority of our patients have rated their overall treatment and care at Healthscope hospitals as 'very good.'

The graph below shows the percentage of patients who have rated their overall treatment and care as 'very good' or 'good' since we first included this question in the survey.

This graph shows that combined 'very good' and 'good' ratings have been consistently above 95%. [Data correct as at 14 March 2024].

Net Promoter Score

Another key question we ask our patients is “How likely is it that you would recommend this hospital to a family member, friend or colleague?” Patients can rate their response on a scale of 0 (Not at all likely) to 10 (Extremely likely). This allows us to calculate the Net Promoter Score (NPS), which is an index from -100 to +100.

The graph below shows the Healthscope-wide Net Promoter Score during 2023. The higher the score, the more patients would recommend the Healthscope hospital at which they received treatment. Scores above 50 are considered ‘excellent’.

This graph shows that the NPS for Healthscope during 2023 was 78.4.

Healthscope Mental Health Facilities

At our mental health facilities, we have based our survey on the Your Experience of Service survey (YES) developed by the Australian Government Department of Health for mental health services.

One of our key questions is about the overall experience of care, which can be rated on a scale from 1 to 5, from 'poor' to 'excellent'. The graph below shows patients' responses during 2023.

This graph shows that the majority of our patients have rated their overall experience of care at Healthscope mental health facilities as 'excellent' or 'very good'.

The graph below shows the percentage of patients in our mental health facilities who have rated their overall experience of care as 'excellent' or 'very good' (top two boxes) since this option was first introduced in 2019.

This graph shows that combined 'Excellent' and 'Very Good' ratings for Healthscope mental health facilities have been consistently above 70%.

What are we doing to improve patient experience?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to improve patient experience. These include:

• inviting feedback from all patients, listening to their views and making changes as a result
• ongoing staff education and provision of resources to ensure that care is person-focused and of the highest standard
• hospital management constantly monitoring the rating of overall treatment and care and taking action to address any areas of concern
• consulting with Healthscope's National Patient Experience Manager to assist us in implementing strategies to enhance patient experience
• engaging Consumer Consultants who provide feedback from a patient's or carer's perspective
• involving patients in their care, for example by shift handover occurring at the bedside
• follow-up phone calls to patients after discharge from hospital to ensure they are recovering well and are given an opportunity to provide feedback
• keeping relatives informed of the current location of their family member in hospital via the 'Patient Finder' app
• 'Patient Journeys': volunteer patients diarising detailed feedback on every part of their hospital experience from pre-admission to post-discharge follow-up
• focused initiatives to address areas of concern, such as taste testing to improve our menu, or measuring of noise levels within different hospital areas

At Healthscope rehabilitation facilities, we measure the ability, mobility and independence of patients on admission and again on discharge, to assess their level of improvement.

We use the internationally recognised FIM© (Functional Independence Measure), a scale which measures the success of rehabilitation.

It is important to note that rehabilitation outcomes are not solely dependent on the quality of care provided. Patient-specific factors such as age, severity of condition and presence of other health issues can influence how much improvement is achieved.

Orthopaedic Fracture Rehabilitation

The graph below shows the improvement in patients after rehabilitation for a broken bone. The dark coloured bars show patients' abilities on admission to a Healthscope rehabilitation facility. The pale coloured bars show patients' abilities on discharge. This is compared to the outcomes at other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bars.

This graph shows that patients' abilities have improved after rehabilitation. Patients at Healthscope rehabilitation facilities have achieved outcomes similar to those of patients in other Australian hospitals.

Rehabilitation for Hip, Knee or Shoulder Replacement

The graph below shows the improvement in patients after rehabilitation for a joint replacement. The dark coloured bars show patients' abilities on admission to a Healthscope rehabilitation facility. The pale coloured bars show patients' abilities on discharge. This is compared to the outcomes at other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bars.

This graph shows that patients' abilities have improved after rehabilitation. Patients at Healthscope rehabilitation facilities have achieved outcomes similar to those of patients in other Australian hospitals.

Stroke Rehabilitation

The graph below shows the improvement in patients after rehabilitation for a stroke. The dark coloured bars show patients' abilities on admission to a Healthscope rehabilitation facility. The pale coloured bars show patients' abilities on discharge. This is compared to the outcomes at other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bars.

This graph shows that patients' abilities have improved after rehabilitation. Patients at Healthscope rehabilitation facilities have achieved slightly less improvement than patients in other Australian hospitals. It is important to note that they commenced their rehabilitation with less severe impairments.

Rehabilitation for Other Neurological Conditions

The graph below shows the improvement in patients after rehabilitation for a neurological (brain) condition such as Parkinson's Disease or Multiple Sclerosis. The dark coloured bars show patients' abilities on admission to a Healthscope rehabilitation facility. The pale coloured bars show patients' abilities on discharge. This is compared to the outcomes at other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bars.

This graph shows that patients' abilities have improved after rehabilitation. Patients at Healthscope rehabilitation facilities have achieve slightly less improvement than patients in other Australian hospitals. It is important to note that they commenced their rehabilitation with less severe impairments.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

What we are doing to improve rehabilitation outcomes?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to improve our patients' rehabilitation outcomes. These include:

• a multidisciplinary team approach, including expert nursing and allied health professionals
• individual and group therapy, often including practice of tasks of daily living.
• use of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) to improve strength and function in stroke patients.
• depression screening for all stroke patients to support full participation in rehabilitation
• swallowing and/or speech/language therapy with a Speech Pathologist

It Healthscope mental health facilities, we measure the mental health of our patients on admission and again on discharge to assess their level of improvement.

We use the internationally recognised HoNOS (Health of the Nation Outcome Scales), a tool which allows clinicians to assess various aspects of a patient's mental health, such as depression, anxiety or problematic behaviour.

The graph below shows the decrease in mental health problems in patients after treatment. The dark coloured bars show mental health problems on admission to a Healthscope mental health facility. The pale coloured bars show mental health problems on discharge. This is compared to the outcomes at other Australian private mental health facilities, shown in the grey bars.

HoNOS Scores

This graph shows that patients' mental health problems have decreased after treatment. Patients at Healthscope mental health facilities have achieved improvement similar to patients at other private hospitals.

Mental Health Questionnaires

It is also important to ask patients whether they think that their mental health has improved during their hospital admission. This is part of collecting patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) and an important method of obtaining feedback on our services. We use the MHQ-14 (Mental Health Questionnaire), a PROMs tool, which asks questions about symptoms of fatigue, anxiety and depression and the impact of those in daily life.

The graph below shows the improvement in patients' self-assessed mental health ratings. The dark coloured bars show the rating on admission to a Healthscope mental health facility. The pale coloured bars show the ratings on discharge. This is compared to the outcomes at other Australian private mental health facilities, shown in the grey bars.

This graph shows that patients feel that their mental health has improved after treatment. Patients at Healthscope mental health facilities have reported improvement similar to patients at other private hospitals.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

What we are doing to improve mental health outcomes?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to improve our patients' mental health outcomes. These include:

• a multidisciplinary team approach, including expert nursing and allied health professionals
• group therapy, counselling and other kinds of therapy
• regular review of patient medication to ensure it is optimal
• involving family and carers in treatment, with the patient's consent

If you are worried about your mental health, or that of someone close to you, there are people who can help you right now:

• Lifeline Australia - 13 11 14
• Kids Helpline - 1800 55 1800
• Mens Line Australia - 1300 78 99 78
• Suicide Call Back Service - 1300 659 467
• Beyond Blue - 1300 22 4636
• Veterans' and Veterans' Families Counselling Service - 1800 011 046

ll Healthscope Hospitals follow strict infection control procedures, and staff take every precaution to prevent infections. Specialised infection control staff collect and analyse data on infections in order to identify and implement best practices to reduce infection rates.

Patients with weakened immune systems, wounds or invasive devices such as drips are at greater risk of infection than the general public.

One of the infections that we closely monitor at Healthscope is Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteraemia, also known as SAB or 'Golden Staph.' SAB can cause skin infections, blood poisoning, pneumonia and other infections.

The graph below shows the number of Staphylococcus Aureus infections. The coloured bars represent Healthscope's rate. This is compared to the Australian government target shown in the grey bar. The national benchmark for SAB is no more than 2 cases per 10,000 days of patient care.

This graph shows that the rate of SAB infections at Healthscope has been very low and well below the Australian government target.

To find out how we generated this data, see: Infection Rate Formulas

Methicillin is an antibiotic commonly used to treat Staph infections. Most cases of SAB respond to methicillin. These are known as MSSA, or methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus Aureus. However, some cases of SAB are resistant and therefore more difficult to treat. These are called MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus.

We started reporting MSSA and MRSA rates separately in 2018. The graph below shows the number of MSSA and MRSA infections. The coloured bars represent the rate at Healthscope hospitals. This is compared to the rate in Australian public hospitals, as shown in the grey bars.

This graph shows that during the reporting period, the rate of MSSA and MRSA infections at Healthscope hospitals was very low and lies well below the rate in Australian public hospitals.

What are we doing to prevent infection?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to prevent infections. These include:

• auditing how often and how well staff wash their hands using soap and water or hand sanitiser
• using gloves and specialised sterile equipment
• assigning a dedicated Infection Control Nurse responsible for educating staff and implementing infection control strategies
• using specialised disinfectants when cleaning facilities
• following national guidelines for high level disinfection and sterilisation processes
• placing hand sanitiser dispensers in public areas throughout our hospital so that they are readily accessible to staff, patients and visitors

What can you do to help?

At Healthscope, patients and visitors are part of the health care team. There are a number of things you can do to reduce the risk of infection for yourself and others:

• Wash your hands carefully with soap and water or use hand sanitiser upon entering and leaving the hospital. This is the most important way in which you can prevent the spread of infection.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Clean your hands afterwards - every time!
• If you do not have a tissue available, cough or sneeze into your elbow, not into your hand.
• As a patient, report any infection you have had, especially if you are still on antibiotics.
• Make sure you take the full course of antibiotics you have been given, even if you are feeling better
• If you have a dressing for a wound, keep the skin around the dressing clean and dry. Let the healthcare worker looking after you know promptly if it becomes loose or wet.
• Tell your healthcare worker if the area around any drips, tubes or drains inserted into your body becomes red, swollen or painful.
• Let the healthcare worker looking after you know if your room or equipment hasn't been cleaned properly
• Stop smoking before any surgery or procedure, as smoking increases the risk of infection.

Visitors

• Do not visit if you have an illness such as a cough, cold or gastroenteritis ('gastro') or are feeling generally unwell.
• Wash your hands carefully with soap and water or use hand sanitiser when entering and leaving a patient's room.

For more information about how you can help:

• Read: Hand Hygiene Information Factsheet

Hand Hygiene is another name for hand washing or cleaning. Good hand hygiene is an important part of infection control. Germs can survive on unwashed hands for over an hour, and we can unknowingly transmit bacteria and viruses to others.

All Healthscope staff are required to frequently wash their hands with soap and water or with waterless hand sanitiser. Both are equally effective.

We follow the World Health Organization's guidelines for hand hygiene, which specify the following times when health care staff must wash their hands:

• before touching a patient
• after touching a patient
• before a procedure
• after a procedure
• after touching a patient's belongings or surroundings

At Healthscope, we use auditors who are accredited by Hand Hygiene Australia to observe and record whether or not hand hygiene has been performed correctly.

The graph below shows the levels of hand hygiene compliance at Healthscope Hospitals. The coloured bars show the Healthscope rate. This is compared to the Australian national benchmark of 80%, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that staff at Healthscope Hospitals have a high rate of compliance with hand hygiene and perform above the national benchmark.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

When audits are performed, each professional group is checked - including doctors, nurses, cleaners and other hospital staff.

The first graph below on the left shows which groups were audited. The graph on the right shows the hand hygiene compliance rate for different staff groups within our hospitals.

These graphs show that our nurses have the best hand hygiene compliance among our staff groups.

Hand hygiene rates for doctors have improved since we introduced public reporting on this website. See below.

What are we doing to improve hand hygiene compliance?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to improve hand hygiene compliance. These include:

• ongoing education programs for staff about infections and hand hygiene
• designated Infection Control Nurses responsible for educating staff and implementing infection control strategies
• placement of hand sanitiser dispensers in convenient areas throughout the hospital, including hallways and patient rooms
• use of individual staff hand sanitisers in critical care areas
• specially designed washbasins where water can be turned on and off without touching the tap

What can you do to help?

At Healthscope, patients and visitors are part of the health care team. Good hand hygiene is the most important way in which you can prevent the spread of infection in hospital.

There are a number of things you can do:

• Wash your hands carefully with soap and water or use hand sanitiser upon entering and leaving the hospital.
• Wash your hands carefully with soap and water or use hand sanitiser when entering and leaving a patient's room.
• Observe hospital signage about hand hygiene.
• If you are unable to find a hand sanitiser station, please ask staff for assistance.

For more information about how you can help:

• Read: Hand Hygiene Information Factsheet

Falls are a leading cause of hospital-acquired injury and frequently prolong or complicate hospital stays. Patients may experience a fall because they are weakened due to a medical condition or after an accident or surgery.

The graph below shows the percentage of patients who have had a fall in Healthscope Hospitals. The coloured bars show the Healthscope rate. This is compared to the rate of falls at other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that patients in Healthscope Hospitals on average have had a lower rate of falls than those in other Australian hospitals.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

For a discussion on the data, see: Limitations of data

What are we doing to prevent patient falls?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to reduce the risk of patient falls. These include:

• a falls-reduction program that provides guidelines for everyone involved in the care of patients in all of our hospitals
• risk assessments to identify patients who are at risk of falling
• ongoing staff education about falls prevention
• patient education on prevention of falls in hospital and at home
• use of safety equipment such as lifting hoists, walking aids and chair or bed sensors that alert staff when a patient who is at risk of falling gets up unassisted
• review of each fall to assess if there were any preventable factors

What can you do to help?

At Healthscope, patients and visitors are part of the health care team. You may like to print a brochure containing handy hints about preventing falls in hospital and at home. You can also watch a helpful video.

Brochure

• Don't Fall For It

Video

• Speak Up - Reduce Your Risk of Falling

Safe medication management is important to us at Healthscope. There are many systems in use throughout our hospitals to support and promote safety for supplying and administering medications, as well as monitoring their effects.

Staff follow strict guidelines to ensure that all medications are administered safely and correctly. We adhere to the 7 Rights of Medication Administration:

• The Right Person
• The Right Documentation and clinical context
• The Right Drug
• The Right Dose
• The Right Date/Time
• The Right Route
• The Right to Uninterrupted Medication Administration

Errors in medication administration are captured in our hospitals' incident reporting systems and investigated.

The graph below shows the rate of medication errors which required intervention. The coloured bars represent the rate at Healthscope. This is compared against the rate in Australian hospitals, as shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that in recent years. the rate of medication errors requiring intervention at Healthscope hospitals has generally been below the industry rate.

What are we doing to reduce the risk of medication errors?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to reduce the risk of medication errors. These include:

• annual medication competency training for staff involved in medication management
• regular audits covering all aspects of safe medication management
• ongoing staff training by Pharmacists and other relevant professions
• implementation of Healthscope-wide policies and procedures which ensure safe medication management
• use of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme Hospital Medication Chart (PBS HMC) for prescribing medications, in accordance with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
• labelling of medications as per the National Standard for User-Applied Labelling of Injectable Medicines, Fluids and Lines
• use of Australia’s National ‘Tall Man Lettering’ List in medication store rooms to better distinguish between medications that have similar names
• access to resources that assist with safe medication management, e.g. MIMs Online, Therapeutic Goods Administration, Clinical Excellence Commission and Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care
• recording of all medication incidents and near misses in the hospital’s incident reporting system
• staff completing a self-reflection tool after any medication incident
• formal review of each medication error to identify contributing factors and prevent it from recurring

What can you as a patient do to help?

We encourage you to bring an up-to-date list of your current medications to hospital with you. This should include the name of the medication, the dose and when, how and why you are taking it. Please give this list to your nurse or doctor when you are admitted. If you bring your own medications into hospital with you, these have to be checked and documented by staff. It is important that you talk to your nurse or doctor if you are uncertain or concerned about any of your medications.

Pressure injuries - commonly known as bed sores - are areas of skin damage caused by prolonged pressure. They can range in severity from reddened skin to ulcers with underlying tissue damage.

Pressure injuries can sometimes occur when a patient remains in one position for a long period. Certain people are at increased risk of developing pressure injuries, such as the elderly, people who are bed-bound or have poor mobility, and people with chronic conditions like diabetes.

The graph below shows the number of patients in Healthscope Hospitals who have developed a pressure injury during their admission. The coloured bars show the Healthscope rate. This is compared to the industry rate of pressure injuries in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that since 2019, patients in Healthscope Hospitals have been less likely to develop a pressure injury compared with patients in other Australian hospitals.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

What are we doing to prevent pressure injuries?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to minimise the risk of patients developing pressure injuries. These include:

• risk assessments to identify patients who are susceptible to pressure injuries
• education for nursing staff in pressure injury identification, prevention and management
• patient education on prevention of pressure injuries in hospital and at home
• use of pressure-relieving devices such as special mattresses, cushions, wedges, sheepskins, water-filled supports, contoured or textured foam supports, heel elevators and supports filled with gel or beads
• regularly changing patients' position and encouraging walking or movement if possible
• review of each pressure injury acquired in hospital to assess if there were any preventable factors

A blood transfusion is the transfer of blood or blood products, such as platelets or plasma, into a patient's veins, usually through an intravenous (IV) cannula. Transfusions may be necessary when a person:

• has lost a large amount of blood
• is unable to produce parts of their own blood
• has blood cells that are not functioning properly.

Transfusions are carried out on doctor's orders by trained professional staff, in accordance with the guidelines in the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards and with the patient's consent. Healthscope audits this on a regular basis.

A blood transfusion can be life-saving or significantly improve quality of life. Australia has one of the safest donor blood supplies in the world, but no transfusion is completely without risk. While adverse events are rare, they may include:

• transfusion of incorrect blood / blood component
• transmission of infection, for example bacteria or viruses
• transfusion-related immune reaction
• transfusion-related acute lung injury.

The graph below shows the number of patients at Healthscope Hospitals who had a transfusion with no significant adverse event. The coloured bars show the Healthscope rate. This is compared to the rate of successful transfusion events in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that in recent years, patients at Healthscope Hospitals were slightly more likely to have an adverse transfusion event, compared with patients in other Australian hospitals.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

Some useful resources about blood transfusions are available here.

What we are doing to prevent adverse transfusion events?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to reduce the risk of adverse transfusion events. These include:

• avoiding unnecessary blood transfusions through use of alternative medications, treatments and non-blood treatments
• identifying any risk factors for adverse reactions before the transfusion commences
• careful cross-matching of blood groups to make sure no errors occur
• ongoing training for nursing staff involved in blood transfusion administration
• patient education and provision of written materials explaining blood transfusions
• careful monitoring of patients during administration of a blood transfusion
• working closely with the pathology laboratory that supplies the blood
• review of each adverse transfusion event to assess if there were any preventable factors

Healthscope has a national Transfusion Team that oversees best practice standards for transfusion management in all hospitals and reviews adverse events nationally so that all hospital can learn from them.

When a patient visits an Emergency Department anywhere in Australia or New Zealand, the triage nurse carries out an assessment of how urgent the patient's condition is. Each patient is assigned a triage category from 1 to 5 on the Australasian Triage Scale.

According to the best practice guidelines, patients must be seen for medical assessment and treatment within the following times:

• Category 1 patients must be attended to immediately (e.g. cardiac arrest)
• Category 2 patients must be attended to within 10 minutes (e.g. severe blood loss)
• Category 3 patients must be attended to within 30 minutes (e.g. head injury but conscious)
• Category 4 patients must be attended to within 60 minutes (e.g. sprained ankle, possible fracture)
• Category 5 patients must be attended to within 120 minutes (e.g. cut not requiring stitches)

Patients that are in categories 1, 2 or 3 will be seen before categories 4 and 5, even if they arrive in the department at a later time.

All hospitals with Emergency Departments measure how quickly their patients are seen. The graphs below show the percentage of patients in each category that are seen within the recommended time. The coloured bars show the Healthscope rate. This is compared to the rate at other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

These graphs show that patients attending Healthscope Hospital Emergency Departments are generally seen more quickly than at other Australian hospitals.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

What we are doing to reduce waiting times in our Emergency Departments?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to reduce waiting times in our Emergency Departments. These include:

• continually reviewing our doctor and nurse staffing levels
• monitoring the number of ambulance arrivals at our Emergency Departments
• monitoring bed availability for transfers to hospital wards

Many operations and procedures performed in Healthscope Hospitals do not require an overnight stay. For minor procedures like colonoscopies or cataract surgery, patients are usually admitted a few hours before their procedure and go home later the same day, once they have recovered from the anaesthetic.

Occasionally, a patient may have an unexpected reaction to a procedure or anaesthetic and will require an unplanned overnight stay or transfer to another hospital.

The graph below shows the percentage of day patients who have required an unplanned overnight stay or transfer to another hospital. The coloured bars show the Healthscope rate. This is compared to the rate of unplanned overnight stays in other Australian hospitals.

This graph shows that in recent years, patients admitted to Healthscope hospitals have been generally less likely to have an unplanned overnight stay or transfer to another hospital compared to other Australian hospitals.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

What are we doing to prevent unplanned overnight stays?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to minimise unplanned overnight stays. These include:

• pre-admission assessment of patients with particular risk factors to ensure that all precautions are taken
• careful monitoring of patients during recovery
• use of a consistent process for discharging patients home, to make sure they have fully recovered from the procedure
• review of each unplanned overnight stay to assess if there were any preventable factors

Following a procedure in the operating theatre, patients sometimes need an unplanned second operation. This is called 'return to theatre'.

There are many reasons why a patient may require a further operation, such as complications from the first procedure, or an unrelated matter.

The graph below shows the percentage of patients that have required an unplanned return to theatre after having an operation at Healthscope Hospitals. The coloured bars show the Healthscope rate. This is compared against the rate in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that patients undergoing surgery in Healthscope Hospitals have been less likely to have an unplanned return to the operating theatre compared with patients in other Australian hospitals.

To see how your local Healthscope Hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

What are we doing to prevent unplanned returns to theatre?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to minimise unplanned returns to theatre. These include:

• pre-admission assessment of patients with particular risk factors to ensure that all precautions are taken
• careful monitoring of patients in recovery
• reviewing all unplanned returns to theatre to assess if there were any preventable factors

Following surgery, all patients require close monitoring to ensure an uneventful recovery. This monitoring usually takes place in the Recovery Unit. For some major operations, such as heart surgery, an admission to the Intensive Care Unit may be planned to allow monitoring with specialised equipment.

Occasionally, a patient may have an unexpected reaction to the anaesthetic or a complication from surgery and will require an unplanned admission to Intensive Care.

The graph below shows the percentage of patients that have required an unplanned admission to the Intensive Care Unit within 24 hours of their operation. The coloured bars show the Healthscope rate. This is compared to the rate of unplanned admissions to Intensive Care in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that patients admitted to Healthscope hospitals have generally been more likely to have an unplanned admission to Intensive Care compared with other Australian hospitals.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

What are we doing to prevent unplanned admissions to Intensive Care?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to minimise unplanned admissions to Intensive Care. These include:

• pre-admission assessment of patients with particular risk factors to ensure that all precautions are taken
• advance bookings of Intensive Care beds for patients who have specific risk factors
• review of each unplanned admission to Intensive Care to assess if there were preventable factors

Following discharge from hospital, patients may sometimes require an unplanned readmission. There are many different reasons why a patient may need to return to hospital, such as a surgical wound infection that occurred after their initial hospital stay.

Good discharge planning can help reduce the rate of unplanned readmissions. This includes making appropriate follow-up arrangements, providing patients with clear care instructions and helping them recognise symptoms that require immediate medical attention.

The graph below shows the percentage of patients who have required an unplanned readmission to a Healthscope hospital within 28 days of their first admission. The coloured bars show the Healthscope rate. This is compared to the rate of unplanned readmissions in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that patients admitted to Healthscope hospitals have been less likely to have an unplanned readmission compared with patients in other Australian hospitals.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

What are we doing to prevent unplanned readmissions?

Healthscope employs a variety of strategies to minimise unplanned readmissions. These include:

• discharge processes which ensure that patients understand their medications and any post-operative care instructions
• arranging appropriate follow-up care and ongoing appointments, e.g. with the General Practitioner or Physiotherapist
• reviewing each unplanned readmission to assess if there were any preventable factors

Following the birth of a baby, the doctor or midwife assesses the baby's overall condition, including heart rate, breathing, responsiveness, activity and skin colouration. A score known as the Apgar score is used to measure these signs at one minute and again at five minutes after birth. A healthy Apgar score is defined as 7 or above. The highest possible score is 10.

The graph below shows the percentage of babies who have a healthy Apgar score at five minutes after birth. The coloured bars show the Healthscope rate. This is compared to the rate at other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that the percentage of babies born with a healthy Apgar score at Healthscope hospitals has been similar to patients at other Australian hospitals.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.

Childbirth is a natural, normal event, and although you may choose to have your baby in hospital, it doesn't mean that medical intervention will be required. Most babies are born without any difficulties, with the encouragement and support from our caring staff.

After a baby is born, the hospital staff complete a thorough check of all aspects of the baby's health, including measuring their Apgar Score to check the baby's breathing, heart rate, colour, activity and temperature. If there are any concerns, the baby may be transferred to the Special Care Nursery - a specialised unit with expert staff who closely monitor and care for the baby. Sometimes these transfers are planned in advance, such as when the baby has a known medical condition.

At Healthscope, we track the number of babies transferred to Special Care Nursery and Neonatal Intensive Care, to monitor the quality of our care. The right support before and during birth can help minimise the rate of these transfers, so we are constantly looking at ways to improve.

The graph below shows the percentage of full term babies born in Healthscope Hospitals that have required an admission to the Special Care Nursery or Neonatal Intensive Care Nursery.

The rate for the past five years is shown in the coloured bars. This is compared to the rate in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that during the past three years, babies born in Healthscope Hospitals were approximately as likely to have an admission to Special Care as babies in other Australian hospitals.

To view data for each Healthscope hospital see: Our Hospitals.

What are we doing to minimise unplanned admissions to the Special Care Nursery?

Improvement strategies may vary from hospital to hospital. Examples are:

• Before a baby is born, and during the pregnancy, the midwives and obstetricians carefully assess and monitor the mother and baby for any risk factors, such as gestational (pregnancy) diabetes.
• The Theatre and Recovery Units use a consistent process for discharging mothers and babies from the delivery suite to the ward, to make sure they have fully recovered from the birth.
• If a mother or baby has additional risk factors, sometimes a Special Care Nursery bed is planned and booked in advance, to make sure that post-natal monitoring is the best possible.
• We review each admission to Special Care to check if there were any preventable factors.

The birth of a baby is a very exciting time, and we want to provide our patients with the best possible hospital experience.

Many new mothers choose to stay in hospital as long as possible after giving birth, particularly for a first baby. However, patients are free to go home earlier if they would like to.

The number of days women typically spend in hospital after having a baby will depend on whether they have had a vaginal delivery or a Caesarean section. In most cases, patients who have undergone a Caesarean section will stay a little longer.

The graph below shows the average length of stay for childbirth in Healthscope Hospitals. The length of stay in other Australian private and public hospitals is also shown.

This graph shows that women having a baby in Healthscope Hospitals and other Australian private hospitals have been able to stay in hospital longer than women in Australian public hospitals.

To see how your local Healthscope hospital compares, visit Our Hospitals.