Gold Coast Private Hospital

Gold Coast Private Hospital is fully accredited against The National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards, a mandatory set of standards established by the Australian Government for all public and private hospitals.

Accreditation involves a visit to the hospital from an independent team of expert health professionals who review the quality and safety of services provided. This occurs every three to four years, in accordance with the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. The hospital is measured against ten overarching standards with many different criteria including patient care, medication management, clinical handover, infection control and falls prevention.

If any standard is not met, the hospital is given three months to address the issue. If a standard is met to an exceptionally high level, a rating of 'Met with Merit' is awarded.

The graph below shows the proportion of 'Met with Merit' ratings achieved by Gold Coast Private Hospital for the most recent accreditation survey conducted, compared with 'Satisfactorily Met' ratings.

This chart shows that Gold Coast Private Hospital achieved 2% 'Met with Merit' ratings and maintained accreditation under the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards.

At Gold Coast Private Hospital we measure the ability, mobility and independence of patients on admission and again on discharge to see how they are improving. We use the internationally recognised FIM™ (Functional Independence Measure), a scale which measures the success of rehabilitation.

It is important to note that rehabilitation outcomes are not solely dependent on the quality of care provided. Patient-specific factors such as age, severity of condition and presence of other health issues can influence how much improvement is achieved.

This chart shows that the average age of rehabilitation patients at Gold Coast Private Hospital is higher than that of patients at other Australian hospitals.

The chart below shows the percentage of patients with a severe impairment on admission. The coloured bars represent Gold Coast Private Hospital's rate. This is compared to the rate in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This chart shows that more patients at Gold Coast Private Hospital have severe impairments on admission than in other Australian private hospitals.

See a definition for severity here.

The graph below shows the improvement in patients after stroke rehabilitation. The dark coloured bars represent patients' abilities on admission to Gold Coast Private Hospital. The pale coloured bars show patients' abilities on discharge. This is compared to the outcomes at other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bars.

This graph shows that stroke rehabilitation patients at Gold Coast Private Hospital achieve good outcomes, despite their higher age and severity of impairment on admission.

The graph below shows the improvement in patients after rehabilitation for a fractured bone. The dark coloured bars represent patients' abilities on admission to Gold Coast Private Hospital. The pale coloured bars show patients' abilities on discharge. This is compared to the outcomes in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that orthopaedic rehabilitation patients at Gold Coast Private Hospital achieve good outcomes, despite their higher age and severity of impairment on admission.

The graph below shows the improvement of patients after rehabilitation for a joint replacement. The dark coloured bars represent patients' abilities on admission to Gold Coast Private Hospital. The pale coloured bars represent patients' abilities on discharge. This is compared to the outcomes at other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bars.

This graph shows that rehabilitation patients with joint replacements at Gold Coast Private Hospital achieve good outcomes, despite their higher age and severity of impairment on admission.

What are we doing with this data?

Gold Coast Private Hospital employs a variety of strategies to improve patients' rehabilitation outcomes. These include:

• a multi-disciplinary team approach, including expert nursing and allied health professionals
• individual and group therapy, often including practice of tasks of daily living
• use of Functional Electrical Stimulation (FES) to improve strength and function in stroke patients
• depression screening for all stroke patients to support full participation in rehabilitation
• swallowing and/or speech/language therapy with a Speech Pathologist

Please note: Prior to 2016, patients were treated at Allamanda Hospital. The hospital relocated to the new Gold Coast Private Hospital facilities in 2016.

Gold Coast Private Hospital follows strict infection control procedures, and staff take every precaution to prevent infections. Specialised infection control staff collect and analyse data on infections in order to identify and implement best practices to reduce infection rates.

Patients with weakened immune systems, with wounds and with invasive devices such as drips are at greater risk of infection than the general public.

There are several types of infections that we closely monitor at Gold Coast Private Hospital. Two of the most important are:

• Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteraemia – also known as SAB. This is a serious infection caused by bacteria entering the blood stream.
• Clostridium Difficile - also known as C Diff. This is an infection of the bowel that causes diarrhoea.

The graph below shows the number of Staphylococcus Aureus infections. The coloured bars represent Gold Coast Private Hospital's rate. This is compared to the Australian Government target, shown in the grey bar. The national benchmark for SAB is no more than 2 cases per 10,000 days of patient care.

This graph shows that the Staphylococcus Aureus Bacteraemia rates at Gold Coast Private Hospital are well below the national benchmark.

The graph below shows the number of Clostridium Difficile infections. The coloured bars represent Gold Coast Private Hospital's rate. This is compared to the rate in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar. The industry rate varies from 2 to 3 cases per 10,000 days of patient care.

This graph shows that the number of Clostridium Difficile infections at Gold Coast Private Hospital lies well below the industry rate.

To find out how we generated this data, see: Infection Rate Formulas

Please note: Prior to 2016, patients were treated at Allamanda Private Hospital. The hospital relocated to the new Gold Coast Private Hospital facilities in 2016.

What are we doing with this data?

Gold Coast Private Hospital employs a variety of strategies to prevent infection. These include:

• auditing how often staff wash their hands using soap and water or hand sanitiser
• using of gloves and specialised sterile equipment
• assigning a dedicated Infection Control Nurse responsible for educating staff and implementing infection control strategies
• using specialised disinfectants when cleaning facilities
• following national guidelines for high level disinfection and sterilisation processes
• placing hand sanitiser dispensers in public areas throughout the hospital so that they are readily accessible to staff, patients and visitors

What can you do to help?

At Gold Coast Private Hospital, patients and visitors are part of the health care team. There are a number of things you can do to reduce the risk of infection for yourself and others:

• Wash your hands carefully with soap and water or use hand sanitiser upon entering the hospital. This is the most important way in which you can prevent the spread of infection.
• Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Clean your hands afterwards – every time!
• If you don't have a tissue available, cough or sneeze into your elbow, not your hand.
• As a patient, report any infection you have had, especially if you are still on antibiotics.
• Make sure you take the full course of antibiotics you have been given, even if you are feeling better.
• If you have a dressing for a wound, keep the skin around the dressing clean and dry. Let the healthcare worker looking after you know promptly if it becomes loose or wet.
• Tell your healthcare worker if the area around any drips, tubes or drains inserted into your body becomes red, swollen or painful.
• Let the healthcare worker looking after you know if your room or equipment hasn't been cleaned properly.
• Stop smoking before any surgery, as smoking increases the risk of infection.

Visitors

• Don't visit if you have an illness such as a cough, cold or gastroenteritis ('gastro').
• Wash your hands carefully with soap and water or use hand sanitiser when entering and leaving a patient’s room.

For more information on how you can help:

• Read: Hand Hygiene Information Leaflet
• Watch: Interactive Video Training

Hand Hygiene is another name for hand washing or cleaning. Good hand hygiene is an important part of infection control. Germs can survive on unwashed hands for over an hour, and we can unknowingly transmit bacteria and viruses for others.

All our staff are required to frequently wash their hands with soap and water or with waterless hand sanitiser. Both are equally effective. We follow the World Health Organisation's guidelines for hand hygiene which specify the following times when health care staff must wash their hands:

• before touching a patient
• after touching a patient
• before a procedure
• after a procedure
• after touching a patient’s belongings or surroundings

At Gold Coast Private Hospital, we use auditors who are accredited by Hand Hygiene Australia to record whether or not hand hygiene has been performed correctly. The graph below shows the levels of hand hygiene compliance. The coloured bars represent Gold Coast Private Hospital's rate. This is compared to the Australian national benchmark of 80%, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that staff at Gold Coast Private Hospital on average have a high rate of compliance with hand hygiene.

When audits are performed, each professional group is checked – including doctors, nurses, cleaners and other hospital staff. The graph below on the left shows which groups were audited. The graph on the right shows the hand hygiene rates for different staff within the hospital. It shows that compliance rates for nurses are higher than for other staff.

This graph below shows that doctor hand hygiene rates have improved since we introduced public reporting on this website in 2013.

What are we doing with this data?

Gold Coast Private Hospital employs a variety of strategies to improve hand hygiene compliance. These include:

• ongoing education programs for staff about infections and hygiene
• a designated Infection Control Nurse responsible for educating staff and implementing infection control strategies
• placement of hand sanitiser dispensers in convenient areas throughout the hospital, including hallways and patient rooms
• specially designed washbasins where water can be turned on and off without touching the tap

What can you do to help?

At Gold Coast Private Hospital, patients and visitors are part of the health care team. Good hand hygiene is the most important way in which you can prevent the spread of infection in hospital. There are a number of things you can do:

• Wash your hands carefully with soap and water or use hand sanitiser upon entering and leaving the hospital.
• Wash your hands carefully with soap and water or use hand sanitiser when entering and leaving a patient’s room.
• Observe hospital signage about hand hygiene.
• If you are unable to find a hand sanitiser station, please ask staff for assistance.

Please note: Prior to 2016, patients were treated at Allamanda Private Hospital. The hospital relocated to the new Gold Coast Private Hospital facilities in 2016.

Falls are a leading cause of hospital-acquired injury and frequently prolong or complicate hospital stays. Patients may experience a fall because they are weakened by a medical condition or after an accident or surgery.

The graph below shows the percentage of patients who have had a fall. The coloured bars represent Gold Coast Private Hospital's rate. This is compared to the rate of falls at other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that patients at Gold Coast Private Hospital on average have a lower rate of falls than patients in other Australian hospitals.

Please note: Prior to 2016, patients were treated at Allamanda Private Hospital. The hospital relocated to the new Gold Coast Private Hospital facilities in early 2016.

The graph below shows that during 2016, all falls at Gold Coast Private Hospital were minor in nature and did not require intervention.

See details on: How we work out our falls rate

For a discussion on the data see:Limitations of data

What are we doing with this data?

Gold Coast Private Hospital employs a variety of strategies to reduce the risk of patients having a fall. These include:

• risk assessments to identify patients at risk of falling
• ongoing staff education on falls prevention
• patient education on prevention of falls in hospital and at home
• use of safety equipment such as lifting hoists, walking aids and chair or bed sensors that alert staff when a patient who is at risk of falling gets up unassisted
• review of each fall to assess if there were any preventable factors

What can you do to help?

At Gold Coast Private Hospital, patients and visitors are part of the health care team. You may like to print a brochure containing handy hints about preventing falls. You can also watch a helpful video.

• Brochure: Don't Fall For It
• Video: Speak Up - Reduce Your Risk of Falling

Pressure injuries - commonly known as bed sores - are areas of skin damage caused by prolonged pressure. They can range in severity from reddened skin to ulcers with underlying tissue damage.

Pressure injuries can sometimes occur when a patient remains in one position for a long period. Certain people are at increased risk of developing pressure injuries, such as the elderly, people who are bedbound or have poor mobility and people with chronic conditions like diabetes.

The graph below shows the number patients who have developed a pressure injury during their admission to hospital. The coloured bars represent Gold Coast Private Hospital's rate. This is compared to the rate of pressure injuries in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that patients at Gold Coast Private Hospital are less likely to develop a pressure injury compared with patients in other Australian hospitals.

Please note: Prior to 2016, patients were treated at Allamanda Private Hospital. The hospital relocated to the new Gold Coast Private Hospital facilities in 2016.

What are we doing with this data?

Gold Coast Private Hospital employs a variety of strategies to minimise the risk of patients developing pressure injuries.

• risk assessments to identify patients who are susceptible to pressure injuries
• ongoing education for nursing staff in pressure injury identification, prevention and management
• patient education on prevention of pressure injuries in hospital and at home
• use of pressure-relieving devices such as special mattresses, cushions, wedges, sheepskins, water-filled supports, contoured or textured foam supports, heel elevators, and supports filled with gel or beads
• regularly changing patients' position and encouraging walking or movement if possible
• referral to a wound management consultant if a pressure injury is identified
• review of each pressure injury acquired in hospital to assess if there were any preventable factors

A blood transfusion is the transfer of blood or blood products such as platelets or plasma into a patient's vein, usually via an intravenous (IV) cannula. Transfusions may be necessary when a patient

• has lost a large amount of blood
• is unable to produce parts of their own blood
• has blood cells that are not functioning properly

Transfusions are carried out on doctor's orders by trained professional staff, in accordance with the National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards and with the patient's consent. Gold Coast Private Hospital audits this on a regular basis.

A blood transfusion can be lifesaving or significantly improve quality of life. Australia has one of the safest donor blood supplies in the world, but no blood transfusion is completely without risk. While adverse events are rare, they may include:

• transfusion of incorrect blood / blood component
• transmission of infection, for example bacteria or viruses
• transfusion-related immune reaction
• transfusion-related acute lung injury

The graph below shows the number of patients who had a transfusion with no significant adverse event. The coloured bars represent Gold Coast Private Hospital's rate. This is compared to the rate of successful transfusion events in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that patients at Gold Coast Private Hospital are less likely to have an adverse transfusion event, compared with patients in other Australian hospitals

Please note: Prior to 2016, patients were treated at Allamanda Private Hospital. The hospital relocated to the new Gold Coast Private Hospital facilities in 2016.

Some useful resources about blood transfusions are available here.

What are we doing with this data?

Gold Coast Private Hospital employs a variety of strategies to reduce the risk of adverse transfusion events. These include:

• avoiding unnecessary blood transfusions by use of medications and non-blood treatments
• identifying any risk factors for adverse reactions before the transfusion commences
• careful cross-matching of blood groups to make sure no errors occur
• ongoing training for nursing staff involved in blood transfusion administration
• patient education and provision of written materials explaining blood transfusions
• careful monitoring of patients during administration of a blood transfusion
• working closely with the pathology laboratory that provides the blood
• Monitoring and auditing compliance to transfusion policies and procedures
• review of each adverse transfusion event to assess if there were any preventable factors

Healthscope has a National Transfusion Governance Committee that oversees best practice standards for transfusion management in our hospitals and reviews adverse events nationally, so that all hospital can learn from them.

When a patient visits the Emergency Department at Gold Coast Private Hospital, the triage nurse carries out an assessment of how urgent the patient’s condition is. Each patient is assigned a triage category from 1 to 5 on the Australasian Triage Scale.

According to the best practice guidelines, patients must be seen for medical assessment and treatment within the following times:

• Category 1 patients must be attended to immediately (e.g. cardiac arrest)
• Category 2 patients attended to within 10 minutes (e.g. severe blood loss)
• Category 3 patients attended to within 30 minutes (e.g. head injury but conscious)
• Category 4 patients attended to within 60 minutes (e.g. sprained ankle, possible fracture)
• Category 5 patients attended to within 120 minutes (e.g. cut not requiring stitches)

Patients who are in categories 1, 2 or 3 will be seen before categories 4 and 5, even if they arrive in the department at a later time. All hospitals with Emergency Departments measure how quickly patients are seen. The graphs below show the percentage of patients in each category that are seen within the recommended time. They show that on average, patients visiting the Emergency Department at Gold Coast Private Hospital are seen more quickly than in other Australian hospitals.

What are we doing with this data?

Gold Coast Private Hospital employs a variety of strategies to reduce waiting times in our Emergency Department. These include:

• continually reviewing our doctor and nurse staffing levels
• monitoring the number of ambulance arrivals
• monitoring bed availability for transfers to the hospital wards

Please note: Prior to 2016, patients were treated at Allamanda Private Hospital. The hospital relocated to the new Gold Coast Private Hospital facilities in 2016.

Following surgery, all patients require close monitoring to ensure an uneventful recovery. This monitoring usually takes place in the Recovery Unit. For some major operations, such as a heart surgery, an admission to the Intensive Care Unit may be planned, to allow monitoring with specialised equipment.

Occasionally, a patient may have an unexpected reaction to the anaesthetic and will require an unplanned admission to Intensive Care Unit.

The graph below shows the percentage of patients who have required an unplanned admission to the Intensive Care Unit within 24 hours of their operation. The coloured bars represent Gold Coast Private Hospital's rate. This is compared to the rate of unplanned admission to Intensive Care in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that patients admitted to Gold Coast Private Hospital are less likely to have an unplanned admission to Intensive Care compared with patients in other Australian hospitals.

Please note: Prior to 2016, patients were treated at Allamanda Private Hospital. The hospital relocated to the new Gold Coast Private Hospital facilities in 2016.

What are we doing with this data?

Gold Coast Private Hospital employs a variety of strategies to minimise unplanned admissions to Intensive Care. These include:

• pre-admission assessment of patients with particular risk factors to ensure that all precautions are taken
• advance bookings of Intensive Care beds for patients who have specific risk factors
• review of each unplanned admission to Intensive Care to assess if there were any preventable factors

Many operations and procedures performed at Gold Coast Private Hospital do not require an overnight stay. For minor procedures like colonoscopies and arthroscopies, patients are usually admitted a few hours before their procedure and go home on the same day, after they have recovered from the anaesthetic.

Occasionally, a patient may have an unexpected reaction to the procedure or anaesthetic and will require an unplanned overnight stay in hospital, or transfer to another hospital.

The graph below shows the percentage of day patients who have required an unplanned overnight stay or transfer to another hospital. The coloured bars represent Gold Coast Private Hospital's rate. This is compared to the rate of unplanned overnight stays in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that patients admitted to Gold Coast Private Hospital are less likely to have an unplanned overnight stay compared with patients in other Australian hospitals.

Please note: Prior to 2016, Gold Coast Private Hospital patients were treated at Allamanda Private Hospital. The hospital relocated to the new Gold Coast Private Hospital facilities in 2016.

What are we doing with this data?

Gold Coast Private Hospital employs a variety of strategies to minimise unplanned overnight stays. These include:

• pre-admission assessment of patients with specific risk factors to ensure that all precautions are taken
• careful monitoring of patients during recovery
• use of a consistent process for discharging patients home, to make sure they have fully recovered from the procedure
• review of each unplanned overnight stay to assess if there were any preventable factors

Following discharge from hospital, patients sometimes require an unplanned readmission. There are many reasons why a patient may need to return to hospital, such as a surgical would infection that occurred after their initial hospital stay.

Good discharge planning can help reduce the rate of unplanned readmissions. This includes making follow-up arrangements, providing patients with clear care instructions and helping them recognise symptoms that require immediate medical attention.

The graph below shows the percentage of patients who have required an unplanned readmission to hospital within 28 days of their first admission. The coloured bars represent Gold Coast Private Hospital's rate. This is compared to the rate of unplanned readmission in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that patients admitted to Gold Coast Private Hospital are slightly more likely to have an unplanned readmission compared with patients other Australian hospitals.

Please note: The unplanned readmission rates presented in this graph only include patients who have been readmitted to the same hospital. Currently, we have no way of measuring unplanned readmissions to a different hospital.

Please note: Prior to 2016, patients were treated at Allamanda Private Hospital. The hospital relocated to the new Gold Coast Private Hospital facilities in 2016.

What are we doing with this data?

Gold Coast Private Hospital employs a variety of strategies to minimise unplanned readmissions. These include:

• discharge processes which ensure that patients understand their medications and any post-operative instructions
• arranging appropriate follow-up care and ongoing appointments, e.g. with the General Practitioner or Physiotherapist
• reviewing each unplanned readmission to assess if there were any preventable factors

Following a procedure in the operating theatre, patients sometimes need an unplanned second operation. This is called “return to theatre”. There are many reasons why a patient may require a further operation, such as complications from the first procedure or an unrelated matter.

The graph below shows the percentage of patients who have required an unplanned return to theatre after having an operation at Gold Coast Private Hospital. The coloured bars represent Gold Coast Private Hospital's rate. This is compared to the rate in other Australian hospitals, shown in the grey bar.

This graph shows that patients undergoing surgery at Gold Coast Private Hospital are less likely to have an unexpected return to theatre compared with patients in other Australian hospitals.

Please note: Prior to 2016, patients were treated at Allamanda Private Hospital. The hospital relocated to the new Gold Coast Private Hospital facilities in 2016.

What are we doing with this data?

Gold Coast Private Hospital employs a variety of strategies to minimise unplanned returns to theatre. These include:

• pre-admission assessment of patients with particular risk factors to ensure that all precautions are taken
• careful monitoring of patients in recovery
• review of all unplanned returns to theatre to assess if there were any preventable factors