Tennyson Centre Day Hospital strictly follows all statutory and relevant body guidelines and Australian Standards. We work hard to provide both a supportive environment and the highest level of care for our patients and staff.
We work together under the management of our General Manager/Director of Nursing and Medical Advisory Committee (MAC).
Patient feedback and quality of care
We never stop caring about patient care. That’s why we continually monitor and assess everything we do, so we can improve the quality of care we provide. Patient feedback plays a crucial role in maintaining and enhancing the quality of care provided at Tennyson Centre Day Hospital. By actively listening to our patients, we gain valuable insights into their experiences, allowing us to make informed decisions about how to improve our services. Our quality outcomes are reviewed by our MAC before being made available for consumer feedback.
We encourage patients to confidentially share their thoughts through a post-operative survey sent via email, while guests and visitors can easily provide feedback through our website. This continuous process of collecting and reviewing feedback ensures that we remain responsive to the needs and expectations of our patients, aligning with the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards.
One of the key metrics we use to gauge patient satisfaction is the Net Promoter Score (NPS). The NPS is a simple way to measure how happy our patients are with the care they receive. At Tennyson Centre Day Hospital, patients are asked: “How likely are you to recommend our hospital to friends and family if they need similar care or treatment?”
Patients answer this on a scale from 0 to 10, with:
- 10 being ‘extremely likely’ and
- 0 being ‘not likely at all’
Scores of:
- 9 or 10 are considered ‘promoters’ (very happy patients)
- 7 or 8 are ‘passives’ (neutral), and
- anything below 7 is a ‘detractor’ (unhappy patients)
The NPS is calculated by subtracting the percentage of detractors from the percentage of promoters. According to global NPS standards, an NPS score above 70 is considered very high and shows the service is world-class. From January to March 2025, Tennyson Centre Day Hospital achieved a Net Promoter Score of 86.
Some of the more detailed results from patient feedback during this period revealed:
- 99% of surveyed patients expressed satisfaction with the quality of care received
- 98% praised our staff’s communication
- 99% felt safe whilst in our care
These results highlight the effectiveness of our efforts and provide us with a clear direction for further enhancing our services.
Workforce checks
To make sure we offer the highest possible standard of comfort and care, our specialist clinical staff have their credentials and abilities assessed annually.
Clinical handover
To make sure nothing is missed, our systems ensure seamless continuity in the event your care is transferred from one person to another. This includes discharge instructions to patients and/or carers.
Infection prevention & control
Tennyson Centre Day Hospital follows strict infection control procedures. Our staff take every precaution to prevent infections and our antibiotic usage is monitored against best practice. As most patients are discharged the same day, we try to get feedback from your specialist or GP if any infections occur. We encourage you to contact us directly if you have any concerns regarding this.
Tennyson Centre Day Hospital employs a variety of strategies to prevent infections. These include:
- auditing how often and how well staff wash their hands using soap and water or hand sanitiser
- using gloves and specialised sterile equipment
- using specialised disinfectants when cleaning facilities
- following national guidelines for high-level disinfection and sterilisation processes
- placing hand sanitiser dispensers in public areas throughout our hospital so that they are readily accessible to staff, patients and visitors.
What can you do to help prevent infection?
At Tennyson Centre Day Hospital, patients and visitors are part of the healthcare team. There are several things you can do to reduce the risk of infection for yourself and others:
- Wash your hands carefully with soap and water or use hand sanitiser upon entering and leaving the hospital. This is the most important way you can prevent the spread of infection.
- Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue when you cough or sneeze. Wash your hands afterwards – every time!
- If you do not have a tissue available, cough or sneeze into your elbow, not into your hand.
- As a patient, report any infection you have had, especially if you are still on antibiotics.
- Make sure you take the full course of antibiotics you have been given, even if you are feeling better.
- If you have a dressing for a wound, keep the skin around the dressing clean and dry. Let the healthcare worker looking after you know promptly if it becomes loose or wet.
- Tell your healthcare worker if the area around any drips, tubes or drains inserted into your body becomes red, swollen or painful.
- Let the healthcare worker looking after you know if the equipment has not been cleaned properly.
- Stop smoking before any surgery or procedure, as smoking increases the risk of infection.
Infection Prevention Results from January to March 2025
During the last reporting period, Tennyson Centre Day Hospital provided care to 2113 patients. Through the diligent efforts of our doctors, staff, patients and visitors, we are proud to report zero post-surgical infections during this time.
Hand hygiene
Tennyson Centre Day Hospital is committed to the Hand Hygiene Australia program. We conduct regular audits to ensure compliance throughout our facility.
Hand Hygiene is another name for hand washing or cleaning. Good hand hygiene is an important part of infection control. Germs can survive on unwashed hands for over an hour, and we can unknowingly transmit bacteria and viruses to others.
All our staff are required to frequently wash their hands with soap and water or with waterless hand sanitiser. Both are equally effective. We follow the World Health Organisation’s guidelines for hand hygiene, which specify the following times when healthcare staff must wash their hands:
- before touching a patient
- after touching a patient
- before a procedure
- after a procedure
- after touching a patient’s belongings or surroundings
At Tennyson Centre Day Hospital, we use auditors who are accredited by Hand Hygiene Australia to record whether hand hygiene has been performed correctly at our hospital.
Learn more about this program here.
Falls within the hospital
Patient falls are a leading cause of hospital-acquired injury and often prolong or complicate hospital stays. Patients may experience a fall because they are weakened by a medical condition or after an accident or surgery.
During January to March 2025, our hospital cared for 2232 patients. We are delighted to report no patients fell during this time.
Pressure injuries
Commonly known as bed sores, pressure injuries are areas of skin damage caused by prolonged pressure. They can range in severity from an area of reddened skin to ulcers with underlying tissue damage.
Pressure injuries can sometimes occur when a patient remains in one position for a long period. Certain people are at increased risk of developing pressure injuries, such as the elderly, people who are bed-bound or have poor mobility, and people with chronic conditions like diabetes. These are most common on hips, tail bones, heels or other bony areas of the body.
We have a range of approaches to treat and prevent pressure injuries, and our target is always to have zero pressure injuries.
Unexpected Returns to Theatre
An unexpected return to the operating theatre is a serious event that may occur if complications arise after surgery. This can happen for various reasons, including infections, bleeding, or other unforeseen issues. At Tennyson Centre Day Hospital, we have processes in place to mitigate this risk and deliver a high standard of care. From January to March 2025, we cared for a significant number of patients, none of whom needed to return to theatre after surgery. Our hospital remains dedicated to reviewing and improving our strategies to minimise returns to theatre.
Medication Safety
Safe medication management is important to us at Tennyson Centre Day Hospital. There are many systems in use throughout the hospital to support and promote safety in supplying and administering medications and monitoring their effects.
Staff at Tennyson Centre Day Hospital follow strict guidelines to ensure that all medications are administered appropriately and accurately. We adhere to the 7 Rights of Medication Administration:
- The Right Person
- The Right Documentation and Clinical Context
- The Right Drug
- The Right Dose
- The Right Date/Time
- The Right Route
- The Right to Uninterrupted Medication Administration
Should errors in medication administration occur, they are captured in our hospital’s incident reporting system and investigated. There was one medication error at our hospital for the last reporting period. Our hospital will continue to review and improve the current strategies we have in place for medication safety.
Consumer Involvement
We want to hear from you!
With patients like you at the centre of our care model, we welcome your participation in reviewing our Quality & Safety reports. Please provide feedback on how we can continue to improve.
Contact our General Manager/Director of Nursing at reception@tennysondh.com.au
Open Disclosure
At Tennyson Centre Day Hospital, we are dedicated to ensuring transparency and trust through our Open Disclosure process. Open Disclosure involves clear and honest communication about any incidents that might cause concern during your treatment. It’s important to know that most issues in healthcare that don’t go as planned are minor and are often identified and addressed before they impact you.
In cases where something small doesn’t go to plan, your doctor or nurse will inform you about what happened and how it was managed, just as they would discuss other aspects of your care. If a more serious incident occurs, we will inform you as soon as possible and arrange an Open Disclosure meeting to thoroughly discuss the situation. This process includes explaining what went wrong, why it happened, expressing our regret, and providing the necessary support.
Our goal is to keep you fully informed and supported, addressing any concerns and working with you to improve our services. If you believe a serious incident has occurred that has not been acknowledged, please speak with your doctor, nurse or other healthcare staff, as we value your feedback in enhancing our care.
Please click on the button below for more information on Open Disclosure.
