Key messages
- All registered and integrated community health services (CHS) in Victoria, are required to report incidents to the Department of Health through the Victorian Health Incident Management System Minimum Dataset (VHIMS MDS)
- From 1 November 2025, the critical incident reporting pathway will be phased out as changes to the VHIMS MDS and near-real-time reporting are implemented.
Community health services in Victoria are required to report incidents to the Department of Health using the Victorian Health Incident Management System Minimum Dataset (VHIMS MDS), and in accordance with the VHIMS Data Manual.
Critical incident reporting pathway
The critical incident reporting pathway for registered community health services was implemented in July 2023 to address duplicate reporting requirements for registered community health services and improve oversight by the Department of Health.
The critical incident reporting pathway was implemented as a temporary solution for registered CHSs while a review of the VHIMS MDS was undertaken, and while registered CHSs transitioned to near-real-time reporting.
VHIMS reforms are now complete and from 1 November, the critical incident reporting pathway will be phased out for registered CHSs that have completed implementation of the new VHIMS MDS and are reporting incident data to the Department of Health in near-real-time.
Note: The critical incident reporting pathway does not apply to integrated community health services. Integrated community health services are subject to the incident reporting requirements of their parent health service.
More information about the critical incident reporting pathway is available to VHIMS users from the Community Health Critical Incident Reporting page on the VHIMS SharePoint site.
Reviewed 31 October 2025
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