To:

Hon Chris Picton MP

Minister for Health and Wellbeing

This annual report will be presented to Parliament to meet the statutory reporting requirements of the Public Sector Act 2009, Public Sector Regulations 2025, Public Finance and Audit Act 1987 and the requirements of Premier and Cabinet Circular PC013 Annual Reporting.

This report is verified to be accurate for the purposes of annual reporting to the Parliament of South Australia.

Submitted on behalf of the Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health by:

Professor Keith McNeil

Commissioner

Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health

Signed: 29 September 2025

From the Commissioner

An Annual Report means another year has gone by, and it has been a very busy and productive 12 months here in the Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health (CEIH).

As always, all our initiatives and efforts are directed towards guiding and driving the health system’s performance towards Excellence, through the application of innovative thinking and ideas generation that lead to tangible improvements in how healthcare is delivered to all South Australians. We enshrine in all that we do, our five guiding principles of; achieving equitable access to health services; empowering consumers in designing

our systems; embedding environmental sustainability thinking in those designs; considering the implications of our work on our workforce, and aiming to enhance prosperity for all, leveraging all that health in its widest sense has to offer in that regard.

Our work covers a broad spectrum of activities working in partnership with the Department for Health and Wellbeing and Local Health Networks (LHN) to deliver initiatives ranging from optimising surgical pathways including robotic assisted surgery, to developing enhanced decision support for earlier identification of sepsis, and rapid identification in the community of chest pain requiring hospital intervention. Much of our work involves, and is critically reliant on, advanced data analytic capability and capacity, and building the digital ecosystem needed to support a 21st century learning and knowledge-based healthcare system.

We have embarked on a major transformation agenda in the cancer space, taking on the responsibility of delivering the South Australian Comprehensive Cancer Network. The aims of this initiative are to enable and ensure the delivery of high quality, evidence-based cancer care across the length and breadth of South Australia, with all the geographical and demographic challenges that entails. This is a joint endeavour with the Commonwealth government aligning with the Australian and SA Cancer Plans and the Australian Cancer Network Program, aiming to connect clinicians, researchers, industry bodies, universities and primary care providers, across both the public and private sectors, to transform cancer care across the State. This is an exciting and ambitious program of work which directly aligns with the five principles on which CEIH operates.

The other major transformation initiative we have embarked upon, is the refresh of the Specialist Statewide Clinical Networks (SCN) program in concert with standing up the Clinical Council. The Clinical Council aims to provide a mechanism by which information and insights can flow to and from the SCNs and the Health Chief Executives’ Council (HCEC). The SCNs have been expanded from 8 to 12 in number and will focus on three priority areas as identified by the Clinical Council and agreed through HCEC, providing value and relevance to the work done by the clinicians involved.

As exciting as 2025 has been, the coming year will provide even greater opportunity for all these (and all the other) improvement initiatives, adding real value to the South Australian health system, whilst we continue to work in partnership with the Department and the LHNs alike in providing safer, higher quality, and sustainable healthcare to the people of South Australia.

Professor Keith McNeil

Commissioner

Commission on Excellence and Innovation in Health

Download Annual Report (1MB, PDF)