5. Learnings

5. Learnings

This submission is focused on outlining the actions taken by the DoH to prepare for, and respond to, the North West outbreak. As previously acknowledged, the global COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented and has placed extreme pressure on health systems across the world. While the DoH has been able to respond rapidly to minimise virus transmission and spread within Tasmania, it is acknowledged, as with any emergency, that there are lessons to be learnt from the experiences of the North West outbreak.

The Interim Report, prepared by the DPH and the CMO and released on 30 April 2020, included 17 recommendations aimed at strengthening structures, processes and culture in order to reduce the likelihood of future outbreaks in Tasmanian hospitals. The ECC established an Outbreak Recommendations Implementation Steering Committee (including the CMO and all hospital chief executives) to oversee implementation of the recommendations, with implementation of all 17 recommendations now complete. An internal audit will also be undertaken by the DoH to review the measures implemented in response to each of the recommendations to ensure they are fit for purpose.

In addition to implementing the Interim Report recommendations, the ECC is undertaking an interim debrief process on the health sector response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Applying the Tasmanian emergency management lessons management framework, the scope of the debrief captures the DoH emergency response structures and processes supporting the health sector COVID-19 pandemic response.

This will reflect on what has gone well to date, issues in the response, and what the DoH can learn from the response. Lessons learnt from the interim debrief will inform the DoH’s ongoing COVID-19 pandemic response structures and processes and will also feed into the broader whole-of-government emergency management lessons learnt framework led by the SCC.

Through the learnings and recommendations identified through internal DoH processes, and via the Review, the DoH will continue to use the experiences from this outbreak to strengthen Tasmania’s capacity to continue to respond to the pandemic in ways that best protect the Tasmanian community.