Victorian Quality Council Secretariat & Knowledge Management

Manager: Dr Paul Ireland
Enquiries: Tel (61 3) 9096 8237

The Victorian Quality Council Secretariat and Knowledge Management Unit comprises the Victorian Quality Council (VQC) management and the Knowledge Management (KM) groups.

The VQC provides the Minister for Health with advice regarding the improvement of quality and safety of health services in Victoria.

An evaluation of the VQC was conducted in 2007 to assess its effectiveness and propose options for enhancing its future operation. The Minister for Health subsequently approved the commencement of an appointments process for another (third) term and extended its duration from three to four years, with a more strategic high level focus on system wide sustainable quality improvement changes. The new terms of reference were also approved and they are outlined below:

In formulating its advice the Council is to focus upon sustainable strategies which:

1. Facilitate service providers and government access to and usage of data and information to effectively monitor and manage quality and safety.
2. Facilitate the systemic take up of evidence based practices demonstrated to improve the quality and safety of health service provision.
3. Test and integrate appropriate practice and management innovations which will contribute to sustainable quality and safety improvements.

The Council is required to:

1. Develop a targeted four year strategic plan which defines a high level work plan for endorsement by the Minister for Health.
2. Provide reports to the Minister for Health (quarterly) which:
   1. explain progress on the work program of the Council
   2. review and analyse critical issues
   3. advise on developments or policy refinements which the Council believes are required.
3. Respond to specific references or requests for advice provided by the Minister for Health.
4. Advise the Minister for Health of emerging or critical issues which, in the Councils view require Council attention and seek endorsement for this work.

In implementing these terms of reference the Council is required to:

• Consult with the Department of Human Services (the department) regarding priorities and strategies in order to develop alignment with departmental work on quality and safety.
• Establish collaborative working relationships with providers, clinical leaders, stakeholders and other quality related bodies and to the extent possible engage these bodies in shared leadership of quality and safety improvement.
• Communicate with the broad health sector about quality and safety issues and developments.
• Establish mechanisms which enable the Council to be informed about and engaged with consumer perspectives.
• Initiate projects which will:
  • demonstrate important systemic opportunities for improved quality and safety in the health system
  • be able to be effectively evaluated
  • be based on collaboration with relevant partners
  • be capable of being implemented sustainably across the health sector.

The third term Council was appointed in July 2008 and is due to expire in June 2012. Current VQC Unit activities focus on completing the work of the second term Council and implementing the third term strategic plan, which was endorsed by the Minister for Health in March 2009.

The Knowledge Management work of the unit ensures appropriate collection processes and systems to provide meaningful information to support the Statewide Quality Branch (SQB) in achieving its outcomes. This involves analysis of clinical performance and support of the health sector in implementing evidence based practice. This includes:

• funding and provision of clinical data sources such as registries, monitoring and development of clinical indicators,
• provision of the Clinicians Health Channel, and
• support of a clinical guidelines approach.

For further information about the VQC, please go to the Victorian Quality Council website.