You are required to watch part 1 and part 2 of the Four Corners special investigation into the failings in aged care called ‘who cares?’ and address the following assessment question; Reflect upon,...

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HLSC604: Quality and Safety in Health Care
Introduction
Healthcare is an elaborate term that includes the maintenance of health by the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of any disease, illness or injury. Healthcare is delivered by healthcare professionals that includes doctors, nurses and allied paramedical staff. All these people work in collaboration and co-ordination to provide the best possible care to any and every patient that comes for the same. Though every patient is fragile till he feels better, certain groups of people are more vulnerable to problems than others. The vulnerable group of people include the infants, elderly, pregnant females, immunocompromised patients and likewise. This group of people need extra attention and care from the treating healthcare professionals. They are delicate to handle both physically and mentally and can even harm themselves during treatment if proper care is not taken.
Certain rules and regulations have been formulated by the healthcare associations that are responsible to check if the healthcare professionals are providing required care to each and every patient that visits them. Clinical Governance are also a set of regulations formulated by the National Health Service that works to provide the best quality care to all its patients. These are a set of standards that if followed would help the healthcare professionals’ in providing best care to their patients while maintain all the laws and compliances discussed van Schalkwyk (2013). A lot of elements form a part of the Clinical Governance process and these can be checked or audited at regular intervals to ensure continuous quality of care.
Open Disclosure for Quality and Safety of Patient Care
As the name suggests, open disclosure refers to the open discussion of anything related to a patient inside the healthcare facility. Any such discussions are important for the better health of the patient and for achieving desirable outcomes. The best part is that these discussions are an important part of the clinical Governance protocols set up by the country’s medical guidelines. This discussion about the patient can be done with the patient, his family or may be between the healthcare professionals. But the main focus is always the betterment of the patient’s health. The Australian Open Disclosure Framework was started by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare in March 2013. This system of open disclosure allows the people that are near and dear to the patient, to be helpful towards improvement in his health, both mental and physical as per the need in any and every way possible said Sherrington (2017).
In the videos by Four Corners, it has been clearly shown that how the aged people staying in the healthcare facilities have to face neglect by the people who actually need to pay the most attention to them. This type of culture and behavior has been increasing and thus the government has started looking after the quality and safety standards of these facilities. The role of open disclosure here is that the detailed analysis of the patient’s condition is done and any changes in the treatment or health are recorded. Thus an open disclosure can be done based on these medical records which would be very beneficial for the patients. Health service organizations need to implement the open disclosure system as the requirement of The National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards – Standard 1. This implies that the healthcare facility would get a clearance from the government bodies only if they apply this system of open disclosure discussed Boyd (2014).
Risk Management for Quality and Safety of Patient Care
The first point that comes in mind when we read the term risk is that what risk(s) might there be in a healthcare facility for the patient(s). But, to surprise, the patients, specially the vulnerable patients are at great risks in any healthcare setting. They are at risk of falling, medical errors that may lead to wrong treatment, infections, communicable diseases and what not. As the patients are exposed to risk, thus proper risk management strategies need to be in place for the prevention and management of these risks. This is required as the patient is entitled to the quality of care and safety in the healthcare facilities. Thus, for the purpose of risk management, many initiatives have been taken by many such facilities like installation of grab bars in the toilets and bathrooms and even rooms. Wheelchairs and stretchers are properly secured with the help of belts. The staff is instructed and trained to avoid any medical error during medications or procedures.
The aged patients seen in the video by Four corners have not been getting any such care in the videos. One old female even fell down while calling...