Performance Indicator and Standards Project for hospital breast services in Victoria

The Breast Disease Service Redevelopment Strategy identified performance monitoring and evaluation as a key action area for breast service redevelopment. Specific actions identified in the Strategy include developing key performance indicators for best practice at an institution/service provider level and at a state-wide level.

In 2001, the Victorian Department of Human Services commissioned BreastScreen Victoria Inc to develop of a set of performance indicators for hospital breast services. The work included the development of the performance indicators, an associated minimum dataset to support the calculation of these indicators, and a reporting framework for hospital breast services. The main aims of the project were to support the development of best practice, service planning, quality improvement, and monitoring and evaluation of breast services in Victoria.

A report on The development of performance indicators for hospital services in Victoria is available from the Resources & Publications web page.

Following the development of the original set of performance indicators, the Victorian Department of Human Services commissioned 28 November, 2006ementation of these measures in a comprehensive quality program including a set of standards for breast services and peer review processes.

The Performance Indicators and Standards for hospital breast services in Victoria Project commenced in January 2004 and was completed in December 2005. The aims of the project evolved as:

• development of standards
• development of mechanisms for collection and reporting of data on the performance indicators and standards
• evaluation of the use of the above in hospital breast services and their impact on the quality of care.

A report on the Performance Indicators and Standards for hospital breast services in Victoria project is now available, including supporting documentation, from the Resources & Publications web page.

The Performance Indicators and Standards for hospital breast services in Victoria Project has been critical in understanding the way tumour streams can improve the quality of service delivery. The recommendations made in this report will inform the development of a broader quality framework for cancer services in Victoria, which will be applicable across all tumour streams.

For additional project resources please visit the BreastScreen Victoria Inc web site.

Related Project

Caring for me?
Final report of the development of a tool for consumer feedback on hospital breast services in Victoria

In July 2003, BreastScreen Victoria were commissioned by The Victorian Department of Human Services to develop a consumer feedback toolkit for use by Victorian public hospital breast services.

The report briefly summarises the initial exploratory work undertaken to inform the project and the subsequent development of the Caring for me? resource. The report then details how the Caring for me? resource was taken up and trialled within three breast services in Victoria over a twelve month period in 2005 to early 2006. The results and learnings of the trial further demonstrate the evolutionary nature of developing effective consumer feedback tools. Recommendations to build on this experience are made.

The final report and supporting documentation/survey tools are available on the Resources & Publications web page.