Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health

Antimicrobial Stewardship Statewide Clinical Network

About the network 

The Antimi­cro­bial Stew­ard­ship Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work (SCN) sup­ports coor­di­nat­ed, evi­dence-based antimi­cro­bial stew­ard­ship (AMS) across South Australia.

Antimi­cro­bial resis­tance is a sig­nif­i­cant and grow­ing health chal­lenge. Inap­pro­pri­ate or exces­sive use of antimi­cro­bials can lead to resis­tant infec­tions, poor­er patient out­comes and increased pres­sure on the health system.

The SCN brings togeth­er clin­i­cians, con­sumers and stake­hold­ers to pro­vide clin­i­cal lead­er­ship and advice on the safe and effec­tive use of antimi­cro­bials across hos­pi­tal, com­mu­ni­ty and res­i­den­tial care settings.

Our role

  • Facil­i­tate col­lab­o­ra­tion to share exper­tise, address chal­lenges and devel­op solu­tions for AMS.
  • Sup­port sys­tem com­pli­ance with the Nation­al Safe­ty and Qual­i­ty Health Ser­vice Pre­vent­ing and Con­trol­ling Infec­tions Stan­dard and the AMS Clin­i­cal Care Standard.
  • Pro­vide clin­i­cal advice on and endorse­ment of AMS issues, includ­ing AMS guide­lines, resources and fact sheets, to key SA Health committees.
  • Mon­i­tor SA antimi­cro­bial sur­veil­lance data to iden­ti­fy risks and oppor­tu­ni­ties for sys­tem improvement.
  • Pro­mote antimi­cro­bial resis­tance aware­ness ini­tia­tives aligned with state and nation­al campaigns.

Our focus

  • Sup­port­ing con­sis­tent imple­men­ta­tion of AMS prin­ci­ples across met­ro­pol­i­tan, region­al, pub­lic, pri­vate and com­mu­ni­ty health­care settings. 
  • Reduc­ing unwar­rant­ed vari­a­tion in antimi­cro­bial use and resis­tance by shar­ing best prac­tice and iden­ti­fy­ing sys­tem-lev­el risks and opportunities. 
  • Strength­en­ing align­ment with nation­al stan­dards, poli­cies and sur­veil­lance programs.

Our peo­ple

Associate Professor Morgyn Warner

Antimicrobial Stewardship Statewide Clinical Network Clinical Lead - MD, PhD, FRACP, FRCPA

Asso­ciate Pro­fes­sor Morg­yn Warn­er is Clin­i­cal Direc­tor of Micro­bi­ol­o­gy and Infec­tious Dis­eases at SA Pathol­o­gy and an infec­tious dis­eases physi­cian at the Cen­tral Ade­laide Local Health Net­work. She was the chair of the now dis­solved South Aus­tralian Expert Group on Antimi­cro­bial Resis­tance and is a mem­ber of the Aus­tralian Com­mis­sion on Safe­ty and Qual­i­ty in Health Care Antimi­cro­bial Stew­ard­ship Advi­so­ry Committee. 

Her clin­i­cal inter­ests are in antimi­cro­bial resis­tance, AMS and infec­tions in immuno­sup­pressed hosts. Her research inter­ests include opti­mi­sa­tion of dos­ing of antimi­cro­bials, appli­ca­tions of bac­te­rio­phage ther­a­py, antimi­cro­bial stew­ard­ship and the human and envi­ron­men­tal microbiome.

Dr Rory Hannah

Antimicrobial Stewardship Statewide Clinical Network Deputy Chair

Dr Rory Han­nah is the head of Infec­tious dis­eases for the North­ern Ade­laide Local Health Net­work. He has worked in Ade­laide and AMS for the last 10 years. He also trained in Clin­i­cal Immunol­o­gy and aller­gy through the Roy­al Ade­laide Hos­pi­tal. He has pre­vi­ous­ly worked in Dar­win and through­out much of Queensland.

Antimicrobial Stewardship Statewide Clinical Network Membership

Mem­ber­ship includes rep­re­sen­ta­tion from:

  • Local Health Networks
    • Infec­tious dis­eases, phar­ma­cy, clin­i­cal micro­bi­ol­o­gy, pub­lic health physicians
  • SA Health Pub­lic Health Division/​Communicable Dis­ease Con­trol Branch
  • Office of the Chief Pharmacist
  • SA Ambu­lance Service
  • SA Phar­ma­cy
  • SA Pathology
  • Nation­al Antimi­cro­bial Util­i­sa­tion Sur­veil­lance Program
  • Pri­vate phar­ma­cy sector
  • Pri­vate hospitals
  • Res­i­den­tial care pharmacists
  • Aca­d­e­m­ic and/​or research organisations
  • Con­sumers
Key documents and resources

Gen­er­al Resources

Con­sumer Resources

Clin­i­cal Resources

Get involved

To learn more or get involved in the Antimi­cro­bial Stew­ard­ship Statewide Clin­i­cal Net­work, email CEIH.​AntimicrobialStewardship@​sa.​gov.​au.