July 15, 2011
Minister Welcomes New Staff and Announces New Quality Assurance Division
The Honourable Charlene Johnson, Minister of Child, Youth and Family Services, was in Grand Falls-Windsor today to announce the creation of a new quality assurance division. Minister Johnson was joined by the Honourable Susan Sullivan, Minister of Innovation, Trade and Rural Development and MHA for Grand Falls-Windsor - Buchans, Clayton Forsey, MHA for Exploits and Ray Hunter, MHA for Grand Falls-Windsor - Green Bay South.
“The department’s new quality assurance division will help us to continuously improve our service and ensure consistency for all child, youth and family services programs in Newfoundland and Labrador,” said Minister Johnson. “It will allow us to monitor and measure quality and identify areas requiring targeted attention. Quality assurance is a major priority as we move forward with the revitalization of child, youth and family services.”
The new quality assurance division will be responsible for developing and implementing a province-wide quality assurance framework, which will include: internal auditing of clinical files, developing quality indicators, and monitoring compliance and trends. The results of these reviews will help inform decisions relating to where changes in policy are required, where additional human resources may be warranted and in what areas future clinical training should be focused. It will also provide important feedback to employees and managers to help improve performance.
“The central and independent location, which will be separate from the department’s service delivery offices, is an ideal model,” said Minister Johnson. “This is all about a new era of accountability and today’s announcement is another important step to strengthening our services and building the best child protection system in the country.”
A number of reports such as the Clinical Services Review and the Turner Report identified a greater need for auditing mechanisms and consistency in quality practices for all program areas in child, youth and family services. Previously, each Regional Health Authority was individually responsible for quality control management within the larger health care system. It will now be centrally managed to ensure province-wide consistency.
The quality assurance division in the central region will have nine dedicated staff including a director, program consultant, five program and practice auditors, a statistician and one clerical staff person.
Minister Johnson also held an event this morning welcoming the child, youth and family services staff from the Central Regional Health Authority to the department. “I would like to take this opportunity to welcome staff in our Central East Region who will transition to the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services on Monday,” said Minister Johnson. “The transition of employees and the development of the new quality assurance division are key elements in a larger organizational restructuring strategy to improve service delivery.”
The child, youth and family services staff from the Western Regional Health Authority transitioned on March 28. The remaining two authorities, Eastern and Labrador-Grenfell, will transition in phases over the next fiscal year.
Budget 2011 Standing Strong: For Prosperity. For Our Future. For Newfoundland and Labrador affirms the Provincial Government’s funding commitment to children, youth and families with an additional $9.2 million investment into the department, bringing the total investment to $33 million in just two years.
- 30 -
Media contact:
|
Andrea Nolan Director of Communications Department of Child, Youth and Family Services 709-729-5148, 725-1593 AndreaNolan@gov.nl.ca |
2011 07 15 11:15 a.m.