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Clinical engagement
The Department of Health is committed to building engagement with senior medical staff, as a key strategy in the ongoing development of the health care system.
The Quality, Safety and Patient Experience Branch has a suite of clinical engagement projects currently underway, working closely with senior medical staff and health services to further policy implementation and facilitation of safe, high quality health care. These include:
- The Credentialling and defining the scope of clinical practice for medical practitioners in Victorian health services policy, which provides guidance to hospitals in relation to the appointment and ongoing employment of senior medical staff. This policy was released in 2007 and updated in 2009 and 2011.
- Collaboration with the Australian Dental Association Victorian Branch, (ADAVB), Dental Health Services Victoria (DHSV), and the Dental Practice Board of Victoria to develop guidelines for the process of credentialling and defining the scope of practice of dentists working in Victorian hospitals.
- The extension of the policy to include the credentialling of General Practitioners and other senior doctors who provide services to residents of publicly operated Residential Aged Care Facilities.
- Development of Partnering for performance – a performance development and support process for senior medical staff. It provides a suite of processes and tools to support the regular review of a senior doctor’s clinical practice throughout the credentialling cycle.
- Development of the Understanding clinical practice toolkit which provides practical guidance to a suite of common tools which enable individual doctors, their peers and organisations to understand and monitor clinical practice.
The department has convened a Clinical Engagement Advisory Group (CEAG) to advise on the projects and the implementation of the credentialling and scope of practice policy. The CEAG is an expert advisory group that has representatives from across the health sector and the department.
