Director's Report

This year has been one of the most challenging for the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. As an organisation committed to bringing the very highest level of forensic medical and scientific services to the Victorian community we have invested considerable time and energy in evaluating and updating our current operations and planning for the implementation of new technologies. These activities are essential if the Institute is to be able to maintain the delivery of its core services in the future.

This forward planning would not have been possible without the tremendous effort of our staff. Their commitment to the future of this organisation is unstinting. They are the people 'in the know' and it is their efforts at keeping abreast of new initiatives that allow us to stay at the leading edge of forensic medicine and science.

It is with the efforts of our staff in mind that the themes chosen for this annual report include Research and Publications, Quality and Organisational Development, Teaching and Education, People, Workload and KPI, and Financials. For the first time the report is available on CD-ROM. This CD holds all of the annual report details as well as some key additional information including the Institute business plan, minutes of meetings and the new Institute website. As such it forms a more complete record of the year for archival purposes.

Despite the huge number of activities presented in this report it would be remiss of me not to mention a few that have had a profound influence on the Institute and its staff.

The tragic events in Bali resulted in the Institute providing a wide range of pathology and support services both in Bali and back home. Involvement with the families of the victims has underpinned the work of our staff and our investment in recent years in developing and updating our “disaster victim identification” processes and procedures was fully vindicated. The current world climate makes disaster planning and response an essential part of the work of all forensic medical organisations and the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine is both committed and ready to play its part.

Services and support for families is an emerging area of work for forensic medical organisations. Ongoing health care issues regularly arise during clinical forensic medicine practice and forensic autopsies often reveal diseases that have community and family health and welfare implications. The institute is actively developing plans to be able to meet these needs and to ensure that victims and families of deceased persons are able to receive the best medical advice.

The development of the new clinical liaison service this year is further evidence of our commitment to ensuring the health and wellbeing of the community in Victoria. Our focus is on helping medical staff better understand the risks involved in providing health care services in order to reduce the number and severity of adverse medical treatment events.

Finally I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Council of the Institute and all of the participants in the various Institute governance committees for their time and contribution this year.

A/Prof David Ranson
Acting Director
VIFM