Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00633:schedule:1:p1
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2022L00633
Segment Type: schedule
Provision Reference: sch 1 (pt 1/2)
Character Range: 2144–5147

Schedule 1— Description of Quality Assurance Activity
1 Name of activity
Australian and New Zealand Audit of Surgical Mortality (ANZASM).
2 Description of activity
The ANZASM provides a self-reporting and hospital or health-system based notification of death system for surgeons, anaesthetists and radiologists relating to patient deaths occurring in a hospital where:
(a) the patient was under the care of a surgeon (surgical admissions), whether or not an operation was performed; or
(b) the patient was under the care of a physician (medical and non-surgical admission) and there was surgical intervention.
The ANZASM comprises a group of regionally based surgical mortality audits, being the:
(a) Australian Capital Territory Audit of Surgical Mortality;
(b) New South Wales' (NSW) Collaborative Hospitals Audit of Surgical Mortality;
(c) Northern Territory Audit of Surgical Mortality;
(d) Queensland Audit of Surgical Mortality;
(e) South Australian Audit of Surgical Mortality;
(f) Tasmanian Audit of Surgical Mortality;
(g) Victorian Audit of Surgical Mortality (VASM); and
(h) Western Australian Audit of Surgical Mortality.
The ANZASM includes, but is not limited to:
(a) notification of death by surgeon, radiologist or anaesthetist, hospital or health system;
(b) completion and review of relevant case form;
(c) report to reporting surgeon, anaesthetist or radiologist by assessing surgeon;
(d) public reporting on aggregated data;
(e) strategic and national review by the ANZASM Steering Committee; and
(f) the making of recommendations and monitoring of the implementation of those recommendations (including by the Victorian Perioperative Consultative Council (VPCC) in respect of the ANZASM in accordance with its functions under Division 2 of Part 4 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic)).
The ANZASM is managed by the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS). Each of the regionally based audits is under the governance of the ANZASM, with the exception of the Collaborative Hospitals Audit of Surgical Mortality which is managed by the NSW Clinical Excellence Commission and is co-governed in collaboration with RACS.
The VASM includes the participation of the VPCC as established under the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic) and Public Health and Wellbeing Regulations 2019 (Vic). The VASM may share documents and information related to individual mortality cases which the VASM considers requires multidisciplinary review, and anaesthetic-related mortality cases with the VPCC. The means by which documents and information are shared between the VASM and VPCC is determined and revised by these bodies as required. The VPCC may make recommendations in respect of those documents and information, and monitor the implementation of those recommendations in accordance with its functions under Division 2 of Part 4 of the Public Health and Wellbeing Act 2008 (Vic).
In other regions, where there is no similar functioning committee as the VPCC, the process is