Update 3 – Secretary, Department of Health

An update on the implementation of recommendations of the Independent Child Safe Governance Review.

The Department of Health is continuing to implement all 92 recommendations from the Independent Child Safe Governance Review of the LGH and HR. The initiatives resulting from these recommendations are aimed at making our hospitals and health services safer for children and young people while they are in our care.

Significant progress has been made, and as it stands 44 of the 92 recommendations have already been completed, with significant progress made on the remainder of the recommendations.

This represents an immense amount of work and is only possible by the hard work of staff and our shared commitment to making genuine and lasting change.

There is still work to do to finalise this implementation and even once we have marked all of these recommendations complete, the job isn’t done. We need to ensure we have an environment where all children and young people feel safe, are safe, and are supported and empowered. This will only be possible by a commitment to long term and continuous improvement.

Some of the progress that we have made across child safeguarding and human resources related initiatives is summarised below:

Child Safeguarding

• The rollout of mandatory child safety training has been a huge effort and a great success, with more than 15,500 people having undertaken the training. While this is important for our workplace, it also means we have an increased awareness of child safety in our communities as well. This is one of the largest efforts to provide child safety education in living memory.
  
  The effort will continue, to ensure anyone who hasn’t undertaken the training, including new starters and those who have been on leave, complete the training before they work in one of our health services.
  
  Child safeguarding can be a difficult topic for people with personal experiences of abuse or neglect. This might be when completing the training and exposed to stories of abuse or neglect in the workplace.
  
  To support the well-being of employees personally impacted by child abuse/neglect to complete the Department’s mandatory child safeguarding training and continue to undertake their work duties safely, the Department has developed a Safety Plan - For employees impacted by child abuse/neglect. The Safety Plan is a confidential tool between the employee and their manager.
   
• Full-time Child Safeguarding Officers have been successfully recruited and are now based at each major hospital in Tasmania.
  
  The Child Safeguarding Officers will support and guide the development of the Department of Health’s child-safe culture, as well as provide advice on child safeguarding related matters.
   
• The Safety Reporting and Learning System has been updated to support Department of Health staff in raising concerns about children and young people’s safety and wellbeing. Child safeguarding concerns reported in SRLS will be sent directly to the Child Safety and Wellbeing Service (CSW Service), which will be handled confidentially.
   
• A new Statewide Complaints Management Framework has been developed and released to ensure a consistent approach to the management of complaints. A statewide communication and awareness program will be rolled out to ensure all DoH employees are aware of the framework and their roles and responsibilities in relation to it.
   
• A new secure tab has now been added to the Digital Medical Record, allowing authorised clinicians only to access a patient’s sexual assault and family violence history when they present to one of the State’s public hospitals.
  
  This will ensure patients will not have to re-tell their stories unnecessarily and clinicians will have access to information they need to ensure signs of concern are not missed. 
   
• A new complaints reporting dashboard has been created for the State’s Consumer and Community Engagement Councils (CCEC). The dashboard reports should now be consistent across all three regions and make it easier for the CCECs to access the information they need.
   
• As Secretary I have issued a direction to all staff under section 34 of the State Service Act 2000 in respect of their child safeguarding responsibilities as employees of the Department of Health. The Department is updating all current and future Statements of Duties with a new accountability and responsibility:
  
  Champion a child-safe culture that upholds the National Principles for Child Safe Organisations. The Department is committed to the safety, well-being, and empowerment of all children and young people, and expects all employees to actively participate in and contribute to our rights-based approach to care, including meeting all mandatory reporting obligations.

Human Resources

• The One Health Culture Elevate Management Development Program has commenced with the first two pilot cohorts participating in the program.
  
  The Elevate Management Development Program has been specifically developed for the Department of Health and is designed to upskill managers in the non-clinical aspects of their roles and focuses on development in the areas of planning, delegating, financial and people management, governance, performance management, communication, and human resources.
   
• The One Health Culture Aspire Leadership Development Program has also commenced with two cohorts of 20 people now completing the program. The Aspire program consists of a series of face-to-face and virtual workshops. Conducted across twenty weeks, the Program covers leadership themes including adaptive leadership, engaging with risk and problem-solving, working collaboratively, communication with integrity and thinking strategically.
  
  Two further Aspire Programs are now underway, supporting almost 40 participants to build their leadership capability, grow their talents and network with a diverse group from right across the state.
   
• The Department has also now initiated a number of change proposals to align with recommendations of the Child Safe Governance Review:
  • The Human Resources Transformation Program will be delivering a new HR service delivery model with a vision to provide a high-quality, responsive and trusted service that will meet the contemporary needs of Tasmania's largest Government Agency.
     
  • The new model will incorporate many of the independent review’s recommendations, including those relating to HR Business Partners, as well as ensuring improved record-keeping, enhanced staff capabilities and a greater understanding of reporting requirements.
     
  • Further to the changes in HR, the Government response to the interim recommendations from the Governance Advisory Panel committed to establishing the new position of Chief Risk Officer, reporting to the Secretary, to drive and implement enterprise-wide risk management across the Department of Health.
     
  • A formal change proposal to transfer a number of existing functions under the new Risk Portfolio has commenced. These functions include Work Health and Safety, Internal Audit, Statewide Quality and Patient Safety, Emergency Preparedness and Response and the Department’s response to the Commission of Inquiry.
     
  • The inclusion of these functions under the Risk Portfolio will enable a wholistic review of our response to risk, training and promotion and strengthens the Department’s approach to risk and accountability.

Further to the progress above on the implementation of the direct recommendations of the Independent Child Safe Governance Review, the Department has a number of other child safeguarding initiatives underway. One of those is the establishment of a new Children and Young People Advisory Group (CYPAG).

The CYPAG will provide a way for young Tasmanians to inform the Department about how it can improve its services to children and young people.

The Child Safety and Wellbeing Service is supporting recruitment to the CYPAG via an Expression of Interest process (EOI) which closed on 31 August. An announcement on the membership of the CYPAG will be coming soon.

Kind regards,
Kathrine Morgan-Wicks
Secretary