Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health

Annual Report: 2021-22 Overview: About the agency

Our purpose is to provide strategic leadership and advice on excellence and innovation in healthcare.

Back to the 2021 – 22 Annu­al Report

Overview: about the agency

Our strate­gic focus

Our pur­pose

To pro­vide strate­gic lead­er­ship and advice on excel­lence and inno­va­tion in healthcare.
We part­ner with con­sumers, car­ers, the wider com­mu­ni­ty and the health work­force to improve care and safe­ty, mon­i­tor per­for­mance, and cham­pi­on evi­dence-based prac­tice to improve health outcomes.

Our Vision

Togeth­er, let’s cre­ate bet­ter health­care for South Australians.

Our Val­ues

Our val­ues and the way we work:

  • Treat peo­ple with com­pas­sion, hon­esty and respect
  • Strive for excel­lence in every­thing we do
  • Cel­e­brate our suc­cess­es, and the suc­cess­es of others
  • Cel­e­brate diver­si­ty of peo­ple and thinking
  • Learn from fail­ure and active­ly seek feedback
  • Be respon­sive and adaptive
  • Believe inno­va­tion comes from con­tin­u­ous learn­ings and diver­si­ty of all kinds

Our func­tions and objectives 

Our core functions:
  • Con­sumer and Clin­i­cal Partnerships
  • Clin­i­cal Infor­mat­ics and Innovation
  • Office of the Commissioner

Our objec­tives:

  • Excel­lent health out­comes and expe­ri­ences for­con­sumers, their fam­i­lies and carers.
  • Con­sumers, car­ers and clin­i­cians engaged in design, deliv­ery and eval­u­a­tion of health services
  • Increased con­fi­dence and pride in the South Aus­tralian health system
  • A cul­ture in the health sys­tem of inno­va­tion and striv­ing for excellence.

We work as one team to:

  • Build Capa­bil­i­ty – we cre­ate oppor­tu­ni­ties for peo­ple to learn new skills and sup­port the mind­sets that allow inno­va­tion to happen.
  • Pro­vide Advice and Sup­port – we pro­vide advice on col­lab­o­ra­tion and engage­ment, data and ana­lyt­ics, improve­ment sci­ence, health sys­tem design, research trans­la­tion, hori­zon scan­ning and innovation.
  • Part­ner and Con­nect – we bring peo­ple togeth­er to solve prob­lems. Con­nect­ing clin­i­cians, con­sumers and the com­mu­ni­ty so they col­lab­o­rate and learn from each other.
  • Dri­ve Inno­va­tion, Excel­lence and Best Prac­tice – we think big and look for cre­ative solu­tions that place South Aus­tralia as a glob­al leader in health. 


Our organ­i­sa­tion­al structure

CEIH Organisational Structure 2021 - 22
CEIH Organ­i­sa­tion­al Struc­ture 2021 — 22

Changes to the agency

Dur­ing 2021 – 22 the fol­low­ing changes occurred to the agency’s structure:

  • The Patient Report­ed Mea­sures (PRMs) Pro­gram team com­menced in July 2021 fol­low­ing approval of a busi­ness case which includ­ed fund­ing pro­vid­ed
    by the Depart­ment for Health and Wellbeing. 
  • Effec­tive 1 July 2021 the Clin­i­cal Infor­mat­ics Advi­so­ry Group (CIAG) and Improve­ment and Inno­va­tion Advi­so­ry Group were amal­ga­mat­ed with the
    Clin­i­cal Advi­so­ry Coun­cil (CAC).
  • In Decem­ber 2021 the fol­low­ing respon­si­bil­i­ty and report­ing lines were trans­ferred from the Human Cen­tred Design Directorate: 
    • Inno­va­tion trans­ferred to the Clin­i­cal Infor­mat­ics Directorate.
    • Patient Report­ed Mea­sures Pro­gram trans­ferred to the Con­sumer and
      Clin­i­cal Part­ner­ships Directorate.

Our Min­is­ter

Hon Chris Pic­ton MP is the Min­is­ter for Health and Well­be­ing in South Australia.

The Min­is­ter over­sees health, well­be­ing, men­tal health, age­ing well, sub­stance abuse and sui­cide pre­ven­tion.

Our Exec­u­tive

Pro­fes­sor Derek Chew
Com­mis­sion­er

Appoint­ed as Com­mis­sion­er on 1 March 2021. Pro­fes­sor Chew is a car­di­ol­o­gist and health sys­tems researcher. He has a MPH from the Har­vard School of Pub­lic Health, and his PhD the­sis explored the fac­tors for improv­ing heart attack care in Aus­tralia. Pri­or to join­ing the Com­mis­sion, he led the Heart and Vas­cu­lar pro­gram of the SAHM­RI and co-led the life­long Health Theme and was the Net­work Direc­tor of Car­di­ol­o­gy for the South­ern Ade­laide Local Health Net­work. He has had sev­er­al roles in clin­i­cal guide­line devel­op­ment and con­tin­ues to con­tribute to fed­er­al efforts to improve car­dio­vas­cu­lar care and outcome.

Katie Billing
Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Con­sumer and Clin­i­cal Partnerships

The Con­sumer and Clin­i­cal Part­ner­ships direc­torate is focused on devel­op­ing sys­tems to build and nur­ture the rela­tion­ships between clin­i­cians, com­mu­ni­ties, con­sumers and car­ers and oth­ers who work in the health sys­tem. These part­ner­ships help improve expe­ri­ences, fos­ter inno­va­tion and ulti­mate­ly lead to bet­ter health outcomes.

Tina Hardin
Exec­u­tive Direc­tor, Clin­i­cal Informatics

The Clin­i­cal Infor­mat­ics Direc­torate focuss­es on improv­ing how data and ana­lyt­ics are used to improve health­care, build­ing capa­bil­i­ty in clin­i­cal infor­mat­ics and pro­vid­ing bet­ter access to data across the health sys­tem to inform the cre­ation of bet­ter health care.

Com­mit­tees

The Clin­i­cal Advi­so­ry Coun­cil is the peak advi­so­ry body to the CEIH and sup­ports the devel­op­ment of the CEIH vision and pur­pose in align­ment with statewide health pri­or­i­ties and com­mu­ni­ty expec­ta­tions. The Coun­cil pro­vides advice, insight and sup­port to the CEIH on cur­rent and future pro­grams of work.

The Clin­i­cal Net­work Exec­u­tive Group brings togeth­er the Leads from the Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­works with South Australia’s pro­fes­sion­al leads and key exec­u­tives from SA Health. This con­nec­tion shares knowl­edge, fos­ters col­lab­o­ra­tion and forms rela­tion­ships across agen­cies to deliv­er bet­ter health­care with min­i­mal bureaucracy.

The Com­mu­ni­ty of Con­sumers is a dynam­ic group of health­care con­sumers who have expressed inter­est in the work of the CEIH. At their request, a closed Face­book group was cre­at­ed as an online envi­ron­ment where mem­bers can stay informed about our work or can opt to par­tic­i­pate in var­i­ous projects and activities.

Statewide Clin­i­cal Networks

Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­works are groups of health pro­fes­sion­als, health ser­vice organ­i­sa­tions, con­sumers and car­ers who work col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly with the goal of clin­i­cal ser­vice redesign for high qual­i­ty care. They oper­ate across the con­tin­u­um of care, across pri­vate and pub­lic sec­tors and Local Health Networks.

Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­works are estab­lished to achieve two main func­tions: devel­op a net­work of clin­i­cians, con­sumers and the com­mu­ni­ty with an inter­est in a spe­cif­ic area in health, and to resolve iden­ti­fied prob­lems that will lead to sig­nif­i­cant improve­ment in health out­comes for South Aus­tralians. Each net­work has a clin­i­cal and/​or con­sumer lead and a steer­ing com­mit­tee to devel­op the vision, goals and work pro­gram for the net­work.

The CEIH assists in the estab­lish­ment of Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­works and pro­vides resources to man­age and inform clin­i­cal inno­va­tion and improve­ment projects with the focus of build­ing the capa­bil­i­ty of the mem­bers to nav­i­gate the pol­i­cy and prac­tice envi­ron­ment of gov­ern­ment and oth­er parts of the health sys­tem. The CEIH’s Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work Mod­el for Tran­si­tion and Capa­bil­i­ty Devel­op­ment Frame­work pro­vide a capac­i­ty build­ing mech­a­nism with a view to long-term sus­tain­abil­i­ty and growth sys­tem-wide.

Once they are estab­lished and have devel­oped strong con­nec­tions, Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­works tran­si­tion to a Statewide Clin­i­cal Com­mu­ni­ties of Prac­tice.
Eight Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­works have been estab­lished with the CEIH and these are detailed below along with their goals.

The Statewide Can­cer Clin­i­cal Net­work aims to improve health out­comes for all South Aus­tralians affect­ed by can­cer by:

  • Focus­ing on com­pas­sion­ate and equi­table care
  • Work­ing in col­lab­o­ra­tive part­ner­ships with key stake­hold­ers across the entire can­cer continuum
  • Build­ing on lat­est evi­dence to dri­ve excel­lence and innovation
  • Dri­ving improve­ments in safe­ty, qual­i­ty and patient experience
  • Pro­vid­ing strate­gic exper­tise and advice on can­cer care

The Statewide Car­di­ol­o­gy Clin­i­cal Net­work aims to improve car­di­ol­o­gy ser­vices for the South Aus­tralian com­mu­ni­ty through:

  • Ensur­ing equi­table access to com­pre­hen­sive, evi­dence based car­dio­vas­cu­lar care, aimed at reduc­ing the bur­den of car­dio­vas­cu­lar disease
  • Devel­op­ing a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary, high­ly skilled, inclu­sive work­force deliv­er­ing best pos­si­ble outcomes
  • Using com­pre­hen­sive, high-qual­i­ty data to assist ser­vice plan­ning and dri­ve con­tin­u­ous qual­i­ty improvement
  • Inno­vat­ing in and imple­ment­ing new or improved mod­els of patient-focused care
  • Sup­port­ing a con­nect­ed and engaged work­force that is respon­sive to patient needs and deliv­er high qual­i­ty care, teach­ing and research at all levels

The Statewide Pal­lia­tive Care Clin­i­cal Net­work aims to improve access, equi­ty and care to South Aus­tralians requir­ing pal­lia­tive care ser­vices by:

  • Increas­ing aware­ness of advanced care plan­ning and bereave­ment services
  • Devel­op­ing bet­ter health lit­er­a­cy in the community
  • Col­lab­o­rat­ing to improve data collection
  • Col­lab­o­rat­ing to cre­ate a Pal­lia­tive Care Plan for South Australia

The Statewide Urgent Care Clin­i­cal Net­work is com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing urgent, unplanned, non‑life threat­en­ing care by:

  • Cham­pi­oning clin­i­cal­ly appro­pri­ate care at the right place in the right timeframe
  • Link­ing con­sumers with appro­pri­ate hos­pi­tal alter­na­tive services
  • Improv­ing access to urgent care for con­sumers aged over 75, those suf­fer­ing from men­tal health emer­gen­cies and peo­ple liv­ing in rur­al areas who require ser­vices in metro areas
  • Col­lab­o­rat­ing to aug­ment mod­els of Urgent Care in South Australia

The Statewide Chron­ic Pain Clin­i­cal Net­work aims to:

  • Fos­ter improved recog­ni­tion and under­stat­ing of chron­ic pain and its effec­tive man­age­ment in the community
  • Fos­ter sys­tems devel­op­ment to enable trans­par­ent shar­ing of data which can sup­port cross-sec­tor ser­vice design, deliv­ery and collaboration
  • Sup­port improve­ments in com­mu­ni­ty, pri­ma­ry health and hos­pi­tal set­tings to ensure time­ly access to evi­dence informed care for all South Aus­tralians liv­ing with pain
  • Build an inte­grat­ed Com­mu­ni­ty of Prac­tice that opti­mis­es the expe­ri­ence and out­comes of chron­ic pain management

The Statewide Ado­les­cent Tran­si­tion Care Clin­i­cal Net­work is com­mit­ted to sup­port­ing young peo­ple to access care which:

  • Meets their needs
  • Empow­ers them to have an ongo­ing say in its devel­op­ment and evaluation
  • Is eas­i­ly accessible
  • Is con­tin­u­ous­ly improving
  • Is seam­less across all providers of healthcare

The net­work aims to:

  • Improve access to services
  • Pro­vide seam­less tran­si­tion, qual­i­ty and deliv­ery of care to young people
  • Ensure young peo­ple are part of the sys­tem and design
  • Improve qual­i­ty

The Statewide Sur­gi­cal and Peri­op­er­a­tive Care Clin­i­cal Net­work aims to improve the sur­gi­cal expe­ri­ence and out­comes for all South Aus­tralians by:

  • Ensur­ing equi­table access 
  • Appro­pri­ate­ness and effi­cien­cy across their sur­gi­cal journey
  • Decrease the require­ment for sur­gi­cal services

The Clin­i­cal Genomics Statewide Net­work aims for the South Aus­tralian genomics com­mu­ni­ty to work togeth­er to pro­vide the best pos­si­ble health care for South Aus­tralians by:

  • Deliv­er­ing high qual­i­ty care for peo­ple through a per­son-cen­tred approach to genomics 
  • Work­force: build­ing a skilled work­force that is lit­er­ate in genomics 
  • Finance and infra­struc­ture: ensur­ing sus­tain­able and strate­gic invest­ment in cost-effec­tive genomics 
  • Ser­vices: max­imis­ing qual­i­ty, safe­ty and clin­i­cal util­i­ty of genomics in health care
  • Data: respon­si­ble col­lec­tion, stor­age, use and man­age­ment of genom­ic data
  • Inno­va­tion: estab­lish inno­v­a­tive projects that put South Aus­tralia at the fore­front of genomics

Read about the agen­cy’s performance

Down­load Annu­al Report (8MBPDF)