“Thank you to all the team who looked after me during my stay. Although the ward was very busy, everyone I encountered was so lovely, caring and patient. Collectively, everyone that I encountered during my visit made me feel at ease and calm during a stressful time.” – Monash Health patient
With a decree to be relentless in our pursuit of excellence, Monash Health is committed not just to meet, but exceed patient expectations in every patient encounter.
In 2022, Monash Health received more than 3,000 formal compliments and more than 3,000 complaints, as registered by the Consumer Relations team. The main theme of the feedback we receive is related to communication, with a high number relating to staff behaviour.
Juliet Pellegrini, Director of Patient Experience and Consumer Partnerships, says, “Our patients and families tend to complain, not about things they don’t have experience in, such as technical healthcare skills, but about things they do have experience in, human behaviours.”
Equally, patients and families will get in touch to praise the care they have received when that care translates to a feeling of comfort, security and kindness.
Every interaction, every time
Every encounter with a patient is an opportunity to make them feel seen and heard.
Over the last year, Monash Health has been developing a set of behaviours for employees to model in all interactions with our patients and community.
As employees, by demonstrating these behaviours to our patients, families, carers and to each other, we know this will make a big difference in our patients’ experiences, to the culture of our healthcare service, and the quality and safety of the care we provide.
Driven by the Patient Experience team, with input from employees and patients, these behaviours have been through many levels of Monash Health review, including approval by the executive, and are now being introduced across the organisation.
We know many of our employees already demonstrate these behaviours. However, feedback from our patients suggests it is not done consistently and across every interaction. We hope the development of the service standards will encourage all employees to think about how their positive behaviours at every interaction can help improve our patients’ experiences.
Monash Health’s Service Excellence Standards
How do these fit with our organisational culture, priorities and values?
Our guiding principles
Our guiding principles speak to how we operate, striving to deliver exceptional healthcare and ensure that every patient receives the highest level of safe and quality care.
We consistently provide safe, high quality and timely care
We provide experiences that exceed expectations
We work with humility, respect, kindness, and compassion in high-performing teams
We integrate teaching, research and innovation to continuously learn and improve
We orientate care towards our community to optimise access, independence, and wellbeing
We manage our resources wisely and sustainably to provide value for our community
Our iCare values
Monash Health has been operating under the iCare values since 2005. These have become an identity of Monash Health, through their simplicity and meaningfulness.
Integrity
Compassion
Accountability
Respect
Excellence
The Service Excellence Standards, like our guiding principles and iCare values, are not a list of things you need to do or tick off. They are behaviours that we can aspire to, in every interaction, every time we engage with a patient, family member or carer.
We are all human, and we won’t always get it right. But every encounter with a patient is a new opportunity to make them feel seen and heard. And the more often we try, the more often we’ll get it right.
And this goes beyond patient and family interactions. These behaviours can support how we engage with each other as colleagues, to enhance our already-strong culture here at Monash Health.
The Standards in practice
The following feedback received recently from some of our consumers shows how our behaviours can, so simply, translate into achieving our values.
“I was at the hospital for day theatre for my mum. It was amazing. Every person who spoke to us or assisted us was kind and caring.”
I am kind in my interactions
“There were a few people in particular who stood out. A lovely man called Nelson who showed me where I needed to go and then supported us at the end of the day with safely getting to our car.”
I strive to keep you comfortable and safe
“Kristy admitted us and was so kind and considerate of mum’s needs, it is clear mum struggles with dementia, but this was managed delicately and professionally.”
I explain things in a way you understand
“Then in recovery was Lucy, she was again kind, caring and professional. There was an incident with another patient who was clearly unwell, swearing, yelling at staff and at her partner. Mum was scared and the staff supported her beautifully and this is where Nelson was our hero in supporting us past this and out to the front door.”
I respond to your needs
“Your staff were professional, yet kind and caring.”
I am kind in my interactions
“Today I received a call asking if mum was okay, any pain or nausea.”
I listen to understand what matters to you
Let’s all take the opportunity – every interaction, every time – to engage with our patients and each other in a way that makes people feel seen, heard, valued and safe.
Approved by Anjali Dhulia, Chief Medical Officer