Clinical Liaison Service

The Clinical Liaison Service was established in 2002 as a unique initiative of the State Coroners Office and the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine (VIFM) to improve patient safety. The need to establish this service is supported by an expanding body of research evidence indicating that addressing the contributing underlying system factors may prevent a significant proportion of adverse events.

The State Coroners Office and the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine recognises the increasing need for data relating to patient safety in health care institutions and the existing coronial information regarding deaths in health care settings is a unique and valuable resource that is under utilised. Furthermore, there is a need for a systematic process to ensure that the coronial recommendations and findings are applied towards system improvements.  This is currently staffed by two physicians, two registered nurses, a research assistant and an administrative officer.

Tasks

The tasks of the Clinical Liaison Services include

• To assist the established coronial processes investigating adverse events.
• The formation of a validated method for classifying and recording information that may be related to adverse events within health care institutions. This information will have many uses, including the analysis of individual or clusters of such cases and the reporting of trends that may be useful in the early recognition of underlying systems issues in health care organisations.
• Explore how coronial data can be used effectively to inform changes to the health care system and whether there are possible reforms to the coronial process that will enhance the value of coronial data for patient safety initiatives.
• Identifying the reform priorities that reflect the interests of coroners, health departments and health care professionals throughout Australia for patient safety.
• Improving dialogue between coroners, health departments and health care professionals about adverse events.

Useful Links:

Coronial Communiqué 

A regular and valuable newsletter produced by the Clinical Liaison Services team.

Residential Aged Care Coronial Communique 

The Clinical Liaison Service, in conjunction with the Department of Human Services - Aged Care Branch, publishes a specialised quarterly newsletter to communicate coronial findings and recommendations to the residential aged care community.

Publications & Conference Presentations

The Clinical Liaison Service regularly publishes and presents its findings at national and international fora.                                                                        

Fall Related Deaths in Hospital

A recent initiative of the CLS to reduce the number of fall-related injuries and fatalities in hospitals.

	Fall-Related Deaths in Hospitals		A recent CLS project
	Recent conference presentations		CLS regularly attend both national and international conferences.
	Coronial Communique		A clinically based newsletter prepared by the Clinical Liaison Service