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Reports

Published

Actions for Mental health post-discharge care

Mental health post-discharge care

Health
Internal controls and governance
Service delivery

On 17 December 2015 the NSW Acting Auditor-General, Tony Whitfield, released a report on the care that is provided to mental health patients in the first seven days after they are discharged from acute mental health units.   The audit examined models of care provided by five Local Health Districts: Northern NSW, Sydney, Western Sydney, Central Coast, and Murrumbidgee. The audit looked at how well these Local Health Districts implemented the Ministry

Published

Actions for Volume Ten 2015 Health

Volume Ten 2015 Health

Health
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Project management
Risk

NSW Health, on average, met the emergency department triage response time targets across all triage categories in 2014-15 for the second consecutive year. However, fewer health entities met all triage targets in 2014-15, according to a report released by the New South Wales Acting Auditor-General, Tony Whitfield.    NSW Health improved its emergency department treatment performance in 2014-15, but did not achieve its target of 81 per cent of pa

Published

Actions for Activity based funding data quality

Activity based funding data quality

Health
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration

NSW Health has adequate arrangements to ensure that the data it uses for activity based funding is of reasonable quality. Activity Based Funding (ABF) represented 75 per cent of the funds provided to Local Health Districts (LHDs) and Speciality Health Networks in 2013-14.   For ABF to work it requires detailed information about patient activity in health services and costs of providing care.   Parliamentary reference - Report number #261&nbsp

Published

Actions for Identifying productivity in the public sector

Identifying productivity in the public sector

Health
Education
Community Services
Transport
Justice
Treasury
Whole of Government
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration

This report examines selected areas of government activity to see if sufficient information was available to identify and assess changes in productivity. The areas examined were primary and secondary school public education, acute inpatient care in NSW public hospitals, CityRail, the NSW Police Force, and the NSW Local Court. Productivity is commonly defined as the amount of output per unit of input.   Parliamentary reference - Report number #256

Published

Actions for Implementing performance audit recommendations

Implementing performance audit recommendations

Premier and Cabinet
Treasury
Whole of Government
Health
Education
Community Services
Transport
Justice
Compliance
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration

NSW Government agencies have sound processes for implementing performance audit recommendations in Auditor-General’s Reports to Parliament. There are many cases of good practice. For example, some agencies formed a steering committee and developed a detailed plan to implement recommendations. Another incorporated the implementation of recommendations into both its business plan and the work plans of individual officers who were managing projects. Most ag

Published

Actions for Volume Two 2015 focusing on Universities

Volume Two 2015 focusing on Universities

Universities
Asset valuation
Compliance
Financial reporting
Fraud
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Risk

Generally, NSW universities are in a sound financial position, but average operating margins are falling and operating expenditure is growing faster than operative revenue.   The university sector’s average operating margin fell from 6.6 per cent in 2013 to 4.8 per cent in 2014 and combined operating expenditure grew 0.9 per cent more than operating revenue. Employee expenses in 2014 increased by an average of 5.1 per cent and other expenses by 5.8

Published

Actions for Large construction projects

Large construction projects

Treasury
Transport
Health
Industry
Planning
Premier and Cabinet
Whole of Government
Compliance
Infrastructure
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Procurement
Project management

The independent assurance given to the NSW Government and sponsor agencies on the viability of large capital projects throughout their lifecycle is inadequate. Government policy is regularly not followed and not properly communicated to those responsible for implementing such policy.   This audit sought to test the effectiveness of the NSW capital project assurance system - which includes gateway reviews and reporting - but significant levels of non

Published

Actions for Managing length of stay and unplanned readmissions in NSW public hospitals

Managing length of stay and unplanned readmissions in NSW public hospitals

Health
Management and administration
Service delivery

NSW Health has achieved considerable success over recent years in reducing average length of stay despite increasing pressure on hospital admissions by older and chronically ill patients. This success has been driven by changes in the way health services are delivered, such as the increasing use of same day care for treatments that previously required overnight hospital stays.    There is a good level of length of stay information available and

Published

Actions for Areas of focus from 2014

Areas of focus from 2014

Education
Community Services
Finance
Health
Industry
Justice
Local Government
Planning
Premier and Cabinet
Transport
Treasury
Universities
Whole of Government
Environment
Compliance
Financial reporting
Fraud
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Procurement
Project management
Risk

The 2014 audits showed that the quality and timeliness of financial reporting have continued to improve. However, many agencies do not have financial sustainability indicators that provide early warning of management issues, such as an inability to meet financial obligations. Weaknesses were identified in information security, management of leave balances, asset management and internal controls.   Governance issues and gaps in performance informat

Published

Actions for Volume Twelve 2014 Health

Volume Twelve 2014 Health

Health
Asset valuation
Compliance
Financial reporting
Information technology
Internal controls and governance
Project management
Risk

The quality of financial statements in the health cluster continues to improve with significantly fewer misstatements. The financial statements of all cluster agencies received unqualified audit opinions. Health has maintained or bettered its emergency triage performance and the percentage of patients admitted for elective surgery within clinically appropriate timeframes has improved.