The NSW Government’s ‘program evaluation initiative’, introduced to assess whether service delivery programs achieve expected outcomes and value for money, is largely ineffective according to a report released today by NSW Auditor-General, Margaret Crawford.

Government services, in areas such as public order and safety, health and education, are delivered by agencies through a variety of programs. In 2016–17, the NSW Government estimates that it will spend over $73 billion on programs to deliver services.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #277 - released 3 November 2016

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 of Health’s policy directive on the transfer of mental health patients from hospitals to the community.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #263 - released 17 December 2015

The Country Towns Water Supply and Sewerage Program has effectively promoted adoption of better management practices by local water utilities, but will not achieve its objective of eliminating the water supply and sewerage infrastructure backlog in urban areas of country NSW.
 
The $1.2 billion Program aims to help local water utilities provide appropriate, affordable, cost effective and well-managed water supply and sewerage services in the urban areas of country NSW. It has two broad elements:

• promoting adoption of better practices 
• providing financial assistance towards the capital cost of infrastructure backlog works.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #251 - released 4 May 2015

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 this information is actively used to manage the time patients spend in hospital.
 
Available data suggest that the rate of unplanned readmissions has not reduced in NSW despite various statewide and local strategies. NSW Health is undertaking research to better understand unplanned readmissions, their causes and the best ways to address them.
 
There are many local and statewide initiatives that aim to reduce length of stay and unplanned readmissions. However, the impact of some local and statewide initiatives on length of stay and unplanned readmissions are not well understood and quantified due to the lack of evaluations conducted.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #250 - released 23 April 2015

Improving immunisation levels has been a policy priority for NSW and Commonwealth governments since the early 1990s. Along with other States they are pursuing a range of initiatives aimed at reaching immunisation target levels above 95% by the year 2000. At such levels, the occurrence of vaccine preventable diseases is minimised and their spread prevented.

There is considerable support for this policy from the public, the medical profession and all levels of government. However, like much in public health, it depends for its success on effective cooperation between many participants, both nationally and locally, with competing demands on their time and resources.

Parliamentary reference - Report number #38 - released 12 June 1997