- Independent Review of WA Health System Governance response released
- 49 recommendations accepted in-principle to strengthen State's public health system
- Working group established to provide further advice on two recommendations
- Part of the McGowan Government's commitment to embedding lived experience into our health system
The McGowan Government has today released its response to the Independent Review of the Western Australian Health System Governance.
After extensive stakeholder consultation, the State Government has supported in-principle 49 of the review's 55 recommendations.
The Review findings reinforce that the devolved model of the Health System Governance introduced in 2016 is working to deliver better healthcare to local communities and make recommendations that will deliver greater consistency across Health Service Providers for both patients and staff, while also improving data collection and procurement processes.
Recommendations on shifting key responsibilities of the Mental Health Commission to the Department of Health are not supported as written evidence currently. A working group will be established to work alongside key stakeholders, consumers and carers, to develop a clear model for best practice in mental health governance.
Further consideration will also be given to recommendations on establishing local authorities to fund and plan services in order to ensure alignment with work already underway by the Department of Health.
Chaired by Ms Kym Peake, the Independent Review of WA Health System Governance panel was established in January 2022 to assess governance of the WA health system.
It examined the operational and practical effectiveness of the governance structures introduced by the Health Services Act 2016 and their impact on patient outcomes.
As stated by Health and Mental Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson:
"I would like to thank the panel for their important contribution to the future of our health system through their comprehensive review.
"We are committed to ensuring patient care and lived experience is at the centre of our health system and these recommendations will help us to strengthen governance arrangements already in place to support this.
"Extensive stakeholder consultation was undertaken prior to preparing our response to better understand the impact of the recommendations and this will assist us to further examine the panel's findings on some of these important recommendations."
