Occupational health and safety (OHS) covers staff health, safety and welfare in the workplace. OHS is particularly important in public hospitals because major hazards exist—such as exposure to infectious and chemical agents, manual handling of patients and materials, slips, trips, falls, and occupational violence. These hazards can lead to musculoskeletal injuries, acute traumatic injury, infections such as hepatitis and potentially even death. The impact of poor OHS is felt not just by affected staff, but also by the patients they are treating.

Good mental health is one of the foundations of a good life and a healthy society. The World Health Organisation broadly defines mental health as 'a state of wellbeing in which every individual realises his or her own potential, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and fruitfully, and is able to make a contribution to her or his community'.

Almost 50 per cent of people aged 16 to 85 years will experience one or more mental illnesses—such as anxiety, mood and substance-use disorders—in their lifetime.

Public health services routinely use computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MR) scanners to diagnose, manage and treat medical conditions. These scanners take high-quality images of internal organs and tissues. They are now critical to clinical decisions at key points in a patient's treatment, and can significantly influence patient outcomes.

This report presents the outcomes and observations from the financial audits of the nine portfolio departments and the 201 associated entities that are not addressed in our other sector based reports, including the five Victorian alpine resorts.

Victorians rely on the state's emergency services organisations (ESO) for assistance during emergencies and crisis incidents and expect a prompt and effective response.

In Victoria, all Triple Zero calls are forwarded to a single organisation, the Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (ESTA). ESTA is responsible for receiving emergency calls and dispatching emergency response vehicles and personnel. This centralised approach to emergency response call-taking and dispatching is unique in Australia and rare worldwide.

Victoria has benefited economically, socially and culturally from successive waves of immigration. Each group of migrants has had its own challenges, with low English proficiency often being a key barrier to accessing services effectively. However, the diversity and composition of these immigrants has changed in recent years.

The Australian Aboriginal population faces considerable disadvantage when compared to the non-Aboriginal population. For example, there are significant gaps in early childhood development, lower participation in maternal and child health services and kindergarten, poorer health status and shorter life expectancy, higher disability rates and comparatively lower literacy and numeracy outcomes. Despite some recent improvements, these gaps are still prevalent in Victoria.

Introduction

In accordance with section 16(3) of the Audit Act 1994, a copy of this report, or part of this report, was provided to the Department of Health and Human Services, Health Purchasing Victoria and six public health services.

The submissions and comments provided are not subject to audit nor the evidentiary standards required to reach an audit conclusion. Responsibility for the accuracy, fairness and balance of those comments rests solely with the agency head.

Responses were received as follows:

Location of CT scanners in Victoria

The map below shows ownership of CT scanners—it does not show those private CT scanners that may serve public patients through outsourced arrangements with public health services.

The audit approach—after benchmarking, interviews with the Victorian Department of Health and Human Services and Health Purchasing Victoria, and desktop review—consisted primarily of assessing three distinct data sources, of different breadth and level of inquiry. Group One included all public hospitals and health services, Group Two included a representative sample of 15 metropolitan and regional health services, while Group Three focused on a selective sample of six health services.