COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA

Instrument number QAA 1/2013

Declaration of Quality Assurance Activity under section 124X of the Health Insurance Act 1973.

I, PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER BAGGOLEY, Chief Medical Officer of the Department of Health and Ageing, make this instrument under section 124X of the Health Insurance Act 1973 (the Act).

1.             DECLARE the Activity described in Schedule 1 to this declaration (the Activity) to be a quality assurance activity to which Part VC of the Act applies being satisfied in relation to the Activity that:

(i)            the organisations engaging in the Activity is authorised to do so by an educational institution or by an association of health professionals; and

(ii)          it is in the public interest that Part VC of the Act applies to the Activity having regard to the criteria prescribed in regulations 23C to 23G (inclusive) of the Health Insurance Regulations 1975.

Dated                                      23^rd      March             2013

PROFESSOR CHRISTOPHER BAGGOLEY

Chief Medical Officer

Department of Health and Ageing

Part 1                  Preliminary

1                       Name of Declaration

This Declaration is the Declaration of Quality Assurance Activity under section 124X of the Health Insurance Act 1973 also known as QAA 1/2013.

2                       Commencement

            This Declaration commences the day after registration on the Federal Register of 
            Legislative Instruments. 

3                      Cessation

As Section 124X (4) of the Act prescribes, this Declaration ceases to have effect as if repealed, five years after the commencement date, unless earlier revoked.

QAA1/2013 – Declared Quality Assurance Activity

[1]       Incident Recording and Reporting Program by the Australian and New Zealand Tripartite Anaesthetic Data Committee (ANZTADC)

            Description:

This activity involves an assessment or evaluation of the quality of anaesthetic health services. The purpose of this Activity is to improve the safety and quality in anaesthetic practice for patients by providing an enduring capability to capture, analyse and disseminate de-identified information regarding anaesthetic incidents. Such incidents would include ‘near misses’ where no harm has occurred, in order to prevent future incidents. The project is designed to operate as an early warning system that alerts practitioners to potential risks independently of the reporting cycles of equipment manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies.

The activity will capture and disseminate information about anaesthetic incidents in Australia and New Zealand using a data collection program called Web AIRS. The incident data is
de-identified before being disseminated for learning. Objectively the activity described seeks to improve the safety and quality of anaesthesia for patients in Australia and New Zealand by promoting awareness of current incidents and establishing an evidence base on which to respond to incidents.

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Note

All legislative instruments and compilations are registered on the Federal Register of Legislative Instruments kept under the Legislative Instruments Act 2003.