Winter is a busy time for the health system with many people exposed to illnesses such as cold and flu.
"Maintaining Performance" initiatives, facilitated under the Whole of Health Program, bring together all relevant stakeholders including local health districts, specialty health networks, Ambulance Service of NSW and HealthShare NSW to drive the delivery of truly integrated care during peak demand. Each district, network and hospital has internal escalation processes to cope with potential increased demand. This project presents an opportunity to approach the winter peak from an integrated State perspective.
The Whole of Health Program has assisted in making significant improvements in patient access to care. The aim is that this initiative will compliment this success and help ensure that measures, such as the improved Emergency Treatment Performance 4 hour treatment benchmark, are sustainable when presented with the inevitable increased pressures of winter.
Demand Escalation is a system wide approach to pre-emptively initiate actions to manage capacity shortfalls at times of high demand, such as during winter.Escalation plans are essential, structured operational documents designed to be used as required.
There are two types of Escalation Plans:
For further information please refer to the background paper Winter 2015 - Maintaining Performance.
Strengthening the health system's capacity to predict, prepare and effectively manage flow, including peak variations in service demand.
NSW Ministry of Health Demand Escalation Framework 2016
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