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Published

Actions for Managing risks in the NSW public sector: risk culture and capability

Managing risks in the NSW public sector: risk culture and capability

Finance
Health
Justice
Treasury
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Risk
Workforce and capability

The Ministry of Health, NSW Fair Trading, NSW Police Force, and NSW Treasury Corporation are taking steps to strengthen their risk culture, according to a report released today by the Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford. 'Senior management communicates the importance of managing risk to their staff, and there are many examples of risk management being integrated into daily activities', the Auditor-General said. We did find that three of the agencies we e

Published

Actions for Managing demand for ambulance services 2017

Managing demand for ambulance services 2017

Health
Information technology
Management and administration
Risk
Service delivery
Shared services and collaboration
Workforce and capability

NSW Ambulance has introduced several initiatives over the past decade to better manage the number of unnecessary ambulance responses and transports to hospital emergency departments. However, there is no overall strategy to guide the development of these initiatives nor do NSW Ambulance's data systems properly monitor their impact. As a result, the Audit Office was unable to assess whether NSW Ambulance's approach to managing demand is improving the effi

Published

Actions for Planning and evaluating palliative care services in NSW

Planning and evaluating palliative care services in NSW

Health
Management and administration
Service delivery
Workforce and capability

NSW Health’s approach to planning and evaluating palliative care is not effectively coordinated. There is no overall policy framework for palliative and end-of-life care, nor is there comprehensive monitoring and reporting on services and outcomes. Palliative care is an essential component of modern health care services and an increasingly important part of the wider health and social care s

Published

Actions for Medical equipment management in NSW public hospitals

Medical equipment management in NSW public hospitals

Health
Compliance
Internal controls and governance

In an audit of medical equipment in NSW hospitals, the NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford found that the management of PET-CT scanners could be enhanced by better performance reporting and replacement planning, and that biomedical equipment needed more timely testing and maintenance. The NSW Auditor-General examined the management of: a high-value piece of equipment primarily used for diagnosing cancer - Positron Emission Tomography and Computed

Published

Actions for Monitoring food safety practices in retail food businesses

Monitoring food safety practices in retail food businesses

Health
Local Government
Compliance
Internal controls and governance
Management and administration
Risk
Shared services and collaboration

New South Wales has a lower rate of foodborne illness than the national average. This reflects some good practices in the NSW Food Authority’s approach to monitoring food safety standards. It also is a factor of the long-standing commitment by local councils’ to ensuring retail food businesses meet these standards. To ensure foodborne illness remains low, the Authority needs to better monitor its arrangements with councils which inspect retail food busi

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 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 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