Northern Territory health service
Advising on patient safety and quality of care
6 December 2019
Professor Jeffrey Braithwaite was invited to present to the Northern Territory Clinical Senate and participate in discussions in Darwin, 5-6 December 2019.
The Northern Territory Clinical Senate is a body established to advise the Northern Territory Department of Health Chief Executive Officer on improving patient safety and the clinical quality of health services across the Territory.
The theme of the conference was “First do no harm,” and Professor Braithwaite presented on strategies to protect patients from harm and improve health services. Professor Braithwaite also spoke about implementation science which is an approach that seeks to ensure good ideas, policies and practices are successfully adopted into services for patients, health service staff and the community.
A visual summary of Professor Braithwaite’s talk was produced by local company Tuna Blue. View the animation here.
The conference discussed the many challenging issues facing the safe delivery of healthcare in the Northern Territory including the remoteness of location, the poverty experienced by much of the population and the difficulty of attracting and retaining a skilled workforce.
Professor Braithwaite acknowledged the unique challenges of healthcare in the Northern Territory, stating:
The work of clinicians and healthcare workers in the Territory is of the utmost importance.
Of the population of nearly 230,000 people, almost half reside in remote areas, and many live with chronic health issues. The Northern Territory has the highest premature death rate in Australia across the total population and generally has the lowest health outcomes in Australia and high levels of social disadvantage.
The public health service is delivered via six public hospitals, the two largest being in Darwin and Alice Springs. Primary healthcare is provided in 74 Primary Health Centres including clinics run by Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.
More about Tuna Blue
Will Bessen is a visual facilitator / graphic recorder based in sunny Fremantle WA where he runs Tuna Blue, a consultancy that helps groups to make shared decisions together through participative approaches and visual language. This is an example of his 'graphic recording' - drawn live on the iPad as the speaker presents to the audience. This visual approach provides greater memory retention and sensemaking for participants. See more of Will's work at www.tunablue.com.au or on his Instagram @willbessen
CENTRES RELATED TO THIS NEWS
Centre for Healthcare Resilience and Implementation Science
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, PLEASE CONTACT
Chrissy Clay, Research Outreach Coordinator