The problem of effectively caring for patients who deteriorate is well recognised internationally, and there is an increasing move towards the systematic promotion and implementation of recognition and response systems by health departments and other organisations that support safety and quality.
The aim of this initiative is to develop a national, evidence-based consensus statement about the:
- importance of providing safe and high quality care to patients who deteriorate in hospitals
- systems that are required to recognise these patients, and respond to them appropriately
- organisational systems required to ensure that patients who deteriorate are recognised and responded to.
On 22 April 2010, Australian Health Ministers endorsed the National Consensus Statement: Essential Elements for Recognising and Responding to Clinical Deterioration (PDF 1013 KB), as the national approach for recognising and responding to clinical deterioration in Australian acute care facilities.
The National Consensus Statement sets out the agreed practice for recognising and responding to clinical deterioration and has been developed as a generic document to apply to all patients in all acute care facilities in Australia.
The Statement should guide health services in developing their own recognition and response systems in a way that is tailored to their patient population and the resources and personnel available, whilst being in line with relevant jurisdictional or other programs. The Consensus Statement has been developed for:
- clinicians and managers responsible for the development, implementation and review of recognition and response systems in individual facilities or groups of facilities.
- planners, program managers and policy makers responsible for the development of jurisdictional or other strategic programs dealing with recognition and response to clinical deterioration.
There are a number of existing published guidelines and documents that have been used in developing the Consensus Statement.
Consultation Process
The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care undertook an extensive consultation process in developing the National Consensus Statement.As part of this process, a consultation paper (PDF 144 KB) on a draft National Consensus Statement was released for broad consultation from July to September 2009. The paper provided background information regarding the development of a national Consensus Statement, discussion of how the statement might be used, and the draft Statement. Over forty written submissions were received in response to the commission’s invitation to provide comment. A list of organisations and individuals and corresponding submissions is available on National Consensus Statement Submissions website.
The comments and views expressed in submissions were considered by the program’s Advisory Committee (PDF 19 KB) and taken into account in developing the final Consensus Statement. The feedback received during the consultation process has been summarised in the consultation report (PDF 143 KB).
The Commission would like to thank everyone who responded to the call for submissions on its draft Consensus Statement.
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