Our Improvement and Innovation Showcase brings together teams from across the health system to connect, share and explore their experiences of working towards better healthcare for all South Australians.
Sepsis is a life-threatening complication of infection and can affect people of any age. Early recognition is critical, the sooner sepsis is identified, the sooner life saving treatment can begin. Every hour counts. Early detection can reduce complications, shorten hospital stays and improve survival.
Sepsis is one of the CEIH’s Priority Focus Area (PFA) projects under the Clinical Excellence and Safety PFA. This reflects our commitment to safer care and better outcomes for South Australians.
This showcase series highlights work underway across our Local Health Networks, as well as state and national efforts, to reduce sepsis-related illness and deaths. Sessions will feature presentations on clinical and service improvements, alongside consumer stories that share patient and family perspectives of sepsis.
The showcase is a free, ticketed online webinar series held weekly throughout March. The first episode will be held on Thursday 5 March 2026.
Get involved in sepsis improvement work
Would you like to be involved in sepsis improvement work led by the CEIH?
An Expression of Interest is now open to join the Sepsis Improvement Priority Focus Area. This is an opportunity for clinicians, consumers and stakeholders to contribute to statewide sepsis improvement initiatives.
Read more and apply: Sepsis Improvement Priority Focus Area — EOI | CEIH
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Episode 55: Grassroots strategies to improve regional sepsis response
Date: 5 March 2026
Time: 1.00 pm — 2.00 pm (ACST)
The Flinders and Upper North Local Health Network (FUNLHN) reviewed how sepsis is identified and managed across its services and committed to strengthening processes from the ground up.
Covering a large and diverse region, FUNLHN oversees hospitals in Port Augusta, Whyalla and Roxby Downs, and smaller clinics in mining towns and Aboriginal communities. Given this diversity– and a workforce heavily reliant on locum doctors and junior staff – the LHN faced a tough question: how could sepsis be identified more consistently, more confidently, and more quickly across all services?
Speaker Bios:
Bianca Newbery, ANUM Infection Control and Port Augusta Dialysis Unit, FUNLHN
Bianca is the Nurse Unit Manager for the Renal Unit at Port Augusta Hospital, a passionate Infection Control Nurse and key member of the LHN Sepsis workgroup . Bianca has worked at Port Augusta hospital for 21 years, with nearly 19 years in dialysis and 6 years in infection control. During this time, she has also had personal experience with sepsis when her husband became ill with a blood stream infection and needed to spend just over a month in hospital. This has given her a unique consumer perspective to support her clinical role.
Janine Connell, Executive Officer/Director of Nursing, FUNLHN
Janine is the Regional Lead for the Sepsis Workgroup and the Recognising and Responding to Acute Deterioration Committee. She has more than 45 years’ experience in nursing, working across three states in a range of settings, from major metropolitan trauma services to remote two nurse clinics and rural health units. Janine has lived in rural South Australia for over 30 years and is a strong advocate for rural communities and for patients to have timely access to the right level of care, as close to home as possible.
Caroline Dingle, Consumer
In 2009 Caroline Dingle was a busy parent and Organisational Psychologist, when she experienced post-natal sepsis after the birth of her third child, resulting in bilateral lower limb amputations alongside other health impacts. Having experienced six weeks in ICU, and six months in hospital, she has experienced firsthand how quickly sepsis can progress and how vital early identification and treatment are.
Register for the event.
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Episode 56: Improving sepsis care in SALHN: A virtual registry proof-of-concept
Date: 12 March 2026
Time: 1.00 pm — 2.00 pm (ACST)
This episode outlines Southern Adelaide Local Health Network’s (SALHN) early work demonstrating that a sepsis virtual registry is achievable.
Using a Learning Health System approach, SALHN has co-designed assets to provide clinicians with timely insights that support continuous improvement. Sepsis – a life-threatening syndrome caused by infection and organ dysfunction – requires early recognition and adherence to best practice to reduce harm. However, delays in identification and variation in care remain ongoing challenges.
This proof-of-concept uses electronic data already present in the EMR to create a scalable virtual registry. With further development, the model has the potential to support system-wide improvement and deliver safer, more reliable care across South Australia.
Speaker Bios:
Professor Andrew Bersten, Executive Director Research, SALHN
Andrew Bersten commenced as an ICU Specialist at Flinders Medical Centre following a Research Fellowship in Canada centred on sepsis and acute lung injury under the mentorship of the late Bill Sibbald. He served for many years as ICU Director at SALHN and as Clinical Director of Medicine, Cardiac and Critical Care. He is currently Executive Director of Research at SALHN, overseeing the Research Hub. Assisted by funding primarily from NHMRC he has authored around 200 publications and edited four editions of “Oh’s Intensive Care Manual”. The opportunity to support data-driven continuous quality improvement by frontline clinicians is driving the development of assets to enhance sepsis using a Learning Health System lens.
Lyn Whiteway, Health Consumer Advisor, SNAP Global Trial Steering Committee, Co-Chair, SNAP Consumer Advisory Group
With lived experience of sepsis, Lyn has been a key consumer representative for a range of projects. She is a health consumer advisor, representative and community board member with over 20 years of experience. She currently represents consumers on the SNAP Global Trial Steering Committee and is Co-Chair of the SNAP Consumer Advisory Group (Staphylococcus Aureus Network Adaptive Platform). She was awarded a SPHERE (Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise) scholarship to be Consumer Lead on a systematic review of quantitative studies to identify and critically evaluate person-centred care interventions for people with rheumatoid arthritis.
Register for the event.
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Episode 57: Sepsis data in Western Australia: Current state and future directions
Date: 19 March 2026
Time: 12.00 pm — 1.00 pm (ACST)
This session showcases how Western Australia is using data to better understand and monitor sepsis.
This presentation will reflect on the current state of sepsis data in Western Australia, with a focus on the development and use of the sepsis dashboard. We will discuss the underlying data sources, analytical methods, and design considerations used to visualise and communicate sepsis-related information. We will also explore current limitations and future plans, including the development of a sepsis data registry to support surveillance and quality improvement initiatives.
Speaker Bio:
Ben McFadden, Senior Data Scientist, Western Australia Department of Health
Ben McFadden is a Senior Data Scientist at the Western Australia Department of Health, Healthcare Quality Intelligence Unit. Ben is currently the lead for the statewide Diabetes, Renal, General Surgery, and Sepsis dashboards, in addition to supporting the development of the Western Australia Sepsis Registry. Ben is also involved in research relating to the application of machine learning for sepsis and bloodstream infections, with a focus on blood culture outcome prediction.
Register for the event.
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Episode 58: Strengthening sepsis survivorship and best practice care
Date: 26 March 2026
Time: 12.00 pm — 1.00 pm (ACST)
Surviving sepsis is only the beginning of recovery. Up to half of all sepsis survivors experience long term physical, cognitive, or psychological challenges — often known as Post Sepsis Syndrome — affecting daily life, independence, and wellbeing.
This episode highlights current initiatives to improve sepsis survivorship support across the health system. Drawing on best practice guidelines developed by The George Institute for Global Health and the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare, the presentation will explore practical actions, emerging models of care, and priority areas for improvement identified by national research and consumer experience.
This episode features a lived experience survivor who will share firsthand insights into recovery after sepsis, bringing a vital consumer voice to the conversation and deepening our understanding of the supports that truly make a difference.
Speaker Bios:
Jacob Dye, Senior Research Fellow, Critical Care and Sepsis Australia, The George Institute for Global Health
Dr Jacob Dye is a Senior Research Fellow whose work focuses on the psychological and behavioural impacts of trauma, with a particular emphasis on trauma linked to healthcare and critical illness, including sepsis. A survivor of septic shock himself, after spending weeks in intensive care in 2023, Jacob combines rigorous research expertise with lived experience to champion better recognition and support for the long-term consequences of sepsis. Nationally recognised as a sepsis advocate and advisor, Jacob works alongside survivors, carers, clinicians and policymakers to co-design solutions that improve recovery, reduce avoidable harm, and ensure that life after sepsis is not only possible, but supported, understood, and valued.
Fiona Gray, Sepsis Survivor/Health Consumer
Passionate about advocating for those impacted by sepsis, Fiona is a Consumer Advocate for the Australian Sepsis Network, consumer representative for the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care (ACSQHC). Fiona, started the Australia and New Zealand Sepsis Support Group Facebook page for survivors and bereaved families.
Register for the event.
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Please note: This event will be recorded and published, however we will ensure none of the attendee details will be revealed.