Accreditation issues at SA hospitals
Two leading South Australian hospitals have been put on notice to fix concerning workloads and their "lacking and unsettling" governance structure for interns.
Reports say the Royal Adelaide Hospital (RAH) and Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) failed to obtain unconditional accreditation after recent visits by the Trainee Medical Officers (TMOs) accredication board.
They have been given until mid-next year to rectify the issues.
The South Australian Medical Education and Training Health Advisory Council says the Central Adelaide Local Health Network's (CALHN) governance structure “is lacking and unsettling with no unifying structure”.
“CALHN requires more time to establish organisational control and until that has been rectified, a four-year accreditation is unable to be granted,’ the authority’s report read.
“A strategy for TMO education and training is evidently still to be developed.”
Investigators said the issues stem from significant changes brought about by the opening of the new RAH.
“The handover to the night team TMO is at times basic and not beneficial given the night patient workload,” the report's authors wrote.
TMOs reported “a concerning level of workload” in at least 10 RAH units, including stroke, cardiology, and neurosurgery and several QEH units.
“This workload affects a number of interns' ability to attend weekly education sessions, their ability to complete discharge summaries as well as TMO welfare.”
The assessors said they have “major” concerns that some RAH wards do not have a dedicated space for TMOs, and that the medical education unit at the hospital had planning issues.
“Concern exists that TMOs will not attend the [postgraduate education office] because of this 'open plan' space when they are in crisis and need of support, due to lack of privacy,” the report's authors wrote.
Accreditation at both hospitals has been extended to August 2019, with visits from the accreditation body due in the first week of June next year.