Orthopods work to ‘get it right first time’

Monday, August 26, 2019

Queensland Health is piloting Getting it Right First Time (GiRFT) in its hospitals as part of the Minister’s priority Delivering what matters in orthopaedic care.

GiRFT is a clinician-led, data-driven, quality improvement initiative aimed at reducing unwarranted variation and improving patient outcomes while reducing costs. The program was developed in the United Kingdom and piloted in orthopaedics. It has since been extended to multiple specialties.

Following a recent visit from Professor Timothy Briggs—National Director, Clinical Improvement, National Health Service in the UK and founder of GiRFT—Queensland Health, through a Clinical Excellence Queensland and HPSP partnership, aims to replicate the program’s outcomes across orthopaedics in Queensland hospitals.

Two respected orthopaedic surgeons—Dr Catherine McDougall and Dr Lawrence Malisano—are leading the program, and the first pilots are underway at the Sunshine Coast University and The Prince Charles hospitals. The clinical leads have scheduled engagement sessions with orthopaedic directors in most facilities, with the remaining to be completed early September 2019.

Initial site visits have been scheduled at a number of facilities and they will continue until March 2020 when the second round of reviews commence.

Keep up to date with Clinical Excellence Queensland:

Last updated: 26 August 2019