Accreditation

North Eastern Rehabilitation Centre is accredited by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (www.achs.org.au).  Following our most recent accreditation survey in October 2008, we were pleased to receive the following commendations: 

• The services provided by North Eastern Rehabilitation centre were assessed to be of high quality. There was an ethos of evaluation and patient involvement. Several of the functions in the clinical function were rate as ‘Extensive Achievement’. 
   
• The staff demonstrated a systematic approach to assessment and care planning. There is ongoing review of these processes with improvements demonstrated. There is extensive evaluation of the care being provided both individually as well as at the program level. Discharge planning is well managed. The medical record is of a high standard.
   
•  The hospital ensures the community and referees are aware of the services provided and they are responsive to feed back from the patients. 
   
• Patient safety is managed well in the hospital.
   
• Patient and consumer involvement has been managed well in the hospital. Patients are routinely given the opportunity to comment on their care through patient surveys with a satisfactory response rate. Patients in the Addiction Rehabilitation Program are contacted several times over the 12 months from discharge. The system for ensuring patients are aware of their rights and responsibilities is excellent.

North Eastern Rehabilitation Centre strives for continuous improvement in the quality of its services.  We have developed and are continually reviewing our quality action plan to achieve this.  Some of the key projects include

• Major revision of the Addiction Unit clinical program to an evidence based program which will maximise the clients ability to overcome alcohol and drug addiction. 
   
• North Eastern Rehabilitation Centre is to undertake a multidisciplinary research program evaluating the effectiveness of a tailored pain management program for spinal cord injured patients.  This has been identified as a need following a significant increase in referrals to the service, and a current lack of demonstrated evidence of physical intervention for this population with chronic pain.  This study follows on from a previous study at our facility evaluating effectiveness of a multidisciplinary pain management program for the general (neurologically intact) population.  Appropriate outcome measures have been identified, and ethics approval has been granted.
   
•  In response to patient satisfaction regarding temperature of food delivered to the bedside, purchase of a portable motorised food warming device to ensure food is delivered to the patients at the correct temperature and staff OHS is protected whilst using this equipment.

Please contact the General Manager if you have any questions about the accreditation or quality improvement program.