The Drivers of Evaluation Practice in an Australian Health Service AES 2011 International Conference, Sydney, Australia August 29 th – 2 nd September 2011 Presenter: Kim Hider Manager, Evaluation Service Southern Health, Victoria, Australia

Overview To explain the drivers that influence evaluation practice at Southern Health To take you on the Southern Health evaluation capacity building journey

Deciding to take the journey Internal driving forces: Frequency of staff requests to CCE and the Quality Unit for evaluation assistance Acknowledgement from senior managers of the importance of evaluation Recognition of limited existing evaluation expertise within Southern Health

Deciding to take the journey Internal enablers: Patience, perseverance and persuasion of senior management staff Opportunistic internal funding within CCE Organisational support for 3 years

Preparation for the journey Deciding to establish the position within CCE to compliment the existing Evidence Service Seeking assistance from 2 external evaluators for the recruitment and selection of the internal evaluation consultant

More preparation... Consultation with key Southern Health staff to generate further internal interest Establishment of an Evaluation Service Advisory Group  Senior management staff, external evaluator, consumer representative Conduct an evidence review of the literature to explore other health services with internal evaluation services/units

Identifying external drivers External drivers of evaluation practice for Australian health services include: Federal and State Government policy and service agreements Quality and Safety frameworks – Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare, Victorian Quality Council Health service Accreditation - Australian Council on Healthcare Standards Funding providers - Government, non-government, philanthropic organisations, hospital insurance authorities

Deciding where to begin Developing a service model that builds an evaluation culture at Southern Health Building staff evaluation capacity and capability to plan and conduct comprehensive evaluations Supporting evaluation practice that would be used in clinical or corporate decision- making

Setting the right pace The bullet train (Japan) The puffing billy stream train (Victoria, Australia)

Knowing the landscape Integrated health service (>40 sites)  5 major hospitals  Subacute/rehabilitation/aged care services  Mental health services  Community health services Services a core community of >888,000 people Employs over 12,700 staff Southern Health is Victoria’s largest health service

Essential travel items Confirmation and recognition of the importance of evaluation in the organisation Staff willing to learn and apply what they learn into their work Information about navigating through the health service, and finding local resources Allocation of staff and funds to support evaluation practice

The Evaluation Express

Key attractions

Responding to different directions A flexible service model that could be responsive to individuals needs, and different evaluation capacities and capabilities Prioritise work to meet demand Influence and support key organisational priority areas

Maintaining the momentum Monitoring the progress and performance of the service Identifying and working with evaluation “champions” Keeping a look out for new evaluation opportunities Sharing the journey with others (internally and externally)

Reflections along the way Practical Have local contextual relevance Consistent and well communicated to staff across all levels of the health service Available through a range of different capacity building approaches

Emerging external drivers The Commonwealth Government’s National Health Reform - performance and accountability framework (Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing) Patient-centred care: Improving quality and safety through partnerships with patients and consumers (Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare) “Patient-centred care is an approach to the planning, delivery and evaluation of healthcare that is grounded in mutually beneficial partnerships among healthcare providers, patients and families.”

Where are we now? The Southern Health Evaluation Service has been established for 2 years Good progress  Over 500 visits to the Evaluation Service Intranet site by staff in 12 months  Over 40 staff have requested individual evaluation advice and support  Staff have reported increases in their evaluation knowledge/skills, and confidence in planning and conducting evaluations Not all service components fully operational Much more to be done

The journey continues..... The Ghan (Australia’s epic transcontinental rail service)