Efficient and effective use of high value medical equipment

Tabled Report 10: 2016–17

Tabled date

2017-02-09

Report year

2016-17

Health

Entities audited

Not identified in the published HTML audit scope.

Recommendations

1. QAO's text Addressed to: the Department of Health

   leads a comprehensive stocktake of the high value medical equipment fleet across the health system to establish and maintain a complete, accurate register of the state’s high value medical equipment (Chapter 2).  

   The analysis should include a review of the completeness and accuracy of the relevant asset information systems used by the health system for financial reporting and asset maintenance.

2. QAO's text Addressed to: the Department of Health

   investigates, in consultation with the Hospital and Health Services, options to aggregate data across the health system asset management systems in a way that provides meaningful decision support information for assets across their life cycle (Chapter 2).  

3. QAO's text Addressed to: the Department of Health

   undertakes a review of the Health Technology Equipment Replacement Program with a particular emphasis on:

   • identifying the most suitable funding arrangements for replacing high value medical equipment as it becomes obsolete. The funding review should consider options for at least a 10‑year equipment replacement horizon (Chapter 2)
   • identifying whether aspects of the Queensland Policy and Advisory Committee for new Technology process should be applied to the Health Technology Equipment Replacement Program process to increase transparency and rigour in how high value medical equipment replacement decisions are made (Chapter 4).

4. QAO's text Addressed to: the Hospital and Health Services

   develop or augment their strategic asset management plans according to the specific needs of their operational environment (Chapter 2).

5. QAO's text Addressed to: the Department of Health and Hospital and Health Services collaborate to

   develop guidelines to strategically plan for high value medical equipment assets, addressing key elements of the asset life cycle (Chapters 2, 4)

6. QAO's text Addressed to: the Department of Health and Hospital and Health Services collaborate to

   consider standardising wait list templates so all Hospital and Health Services are capturing and reporting on the same information—to enhance high value medical equipment planning (Chapters 2, 3) 

7. QAO's text Addressed to: the Department of Health and Hospital and Health Services collaborate to

   standardise definitions for key data points (such as start and completion times) when using high value medical equipment (Chapter 3) 

8. QAO's text Addressed to: the Department of Health and Hospital and Health Services collaborate to

   identify key baseline performance metrics for high value medical equipment so the relevant data can be captured and reported on—to identify available equipment capacity and potential system-wide improvements (Chapter 3).

Authoritative report — Queensland Audit Office

Report PDF on QAO