This report covers 114 entities, comprising public hospitals, the entities they control and rural health information technology alliances. It is the second of six reports to be presented to Parliament covering the results of our audits of 2008-09 financial reports.

This audit assessed the coordination, preparation, and effectiveness of police, ambulance and mental health triage and Crisis Assessment and Treatment (CAT) service responses to mental health crises.

The objective of this audit was to assess the adequacy of the state’s planning, procurement and management of the RCH PPP redevelopment.

The audit objective was to determine whether reported access indicators are relevant, appropriate and fairly represent public hospital performance.

The report examined how well five hospitals managed the flow of patients through the hospital system, including patient admission, the patient stay and patient discharge. It also examined whether the Department of Human Services (DHS) and hospitals planned for acute inpatients.

This audit examined whether the private practice arrangements at the health service complied with the legislation and policy. As private practice arrangements are widely used in Victoria, the findings and conclusions of this audit should be considered by all public health services.

The objective for this audit was to assess the adequacy of the state’s planning, procurement and management of the Royal Women’s Hospital (RWH) redevelopment.

The report, Patient Safety in Public Hospitals, examines the performance of the patient safety system, including how well agencies worked together and the progress made since VAGO’s 2005 patient safety audit.

The audit examined: the extent of achievement of implementation, milestones and budgeted costs, the extent of realisation of the expected benefits as set out in the ICT strategy, the effectiveness of overall monitoring and review of the program, the soundness of controls in place to assure the probity of procurement processes.

Specific Purpose Funds (SPFs) are moneys and property received by public health services from various sources and may include donations, bequests and research funding. Public health services disclosed in excess of $255 million in SPF reserves and more than $45 million in trust funds in their 30 June 2007 financial statements. Our audit covered 4 public health services which disclosed a total of around $118 million in SPF reserves and $28 million in trust funds in their financial statements. This audit examined how well 4 public health services managed such funds for the period May 2006 through April 2007.