Canberra Hospital has recorded a marked turnaround from the horror quality assessment four years ago that almost cost it accreditation.
Staff at Canberra Health Services reacted with emotion on Friday after being told the hospital had met every one of the criteria set by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards.
In 2018, inspectors found the hospital had failed to meet 33 core standards of 209, some of which constituted "extreme risks" to patients, with particular concern identified about the hospital's ability to protect those receiving care for mental health.
The good news came amid building pressure for Canberra Health Services caused by record COVID-19 hospitalisations.
On Sunday, 130 people were hospitalised with the virus, four of them requiring intensive care.
There were 1031 new cases of the virus in the ACT, with roughly half coming from rapid antigen tests and the other half from PCR tests.
Speaking on Friday, Canberra Health Services chief executive Dave Peffer said there had been "plenty of tears" from some of the team members.
"[Despite] the unrelenting demand and workforce shortages that we've experienced, for the team to be able to stand up, notwithstanding all of those pressures, and deliver an outcome like this is something that I'm proud of, I know the organisation is proud of, and the community should be proud of as well."
'A tremendous amount of work on culture'
An at-times scathing report in 2018 showed 33 core criteria which the hospital had not met, including concern about mental health care, as well as systemic problems around the governance system of the hospital.
A further assessment conducted three months later noted significant improvements were made and allowed for the hospital to receive accreditation.
"We've done a tremendous amount of work on culture, on values within the organisation and that hasn't just been talk or words - it's been backed up by action," Mr Peffer said, adding that cultural changes had enforced safer caring environments.
That work included improving handover between teams in different departments to ensure patient safety was at the fore, addressing compliance standards and a significant effort to address risks posed to mental health patients, he said.
"We've had a big program of work that's looked at ligature risks through all of our mental health facilities ... between our construction team, our engineers and our clinical teams in those spaces to really redesign the spaces make sure that they're safe."
"As safe as they can be for our workforce, but as safe as they can be for our patients as well, particularly those who are very vulnerable and at risk of self harm situations."
It has not been smooth sailing for Canberra Health Services, with allegations of bullying within the cardiology department in April leading to some senior staff members being stood down, severe staffing shortages and a culture review in November 2021 finding bullying still rife.
Mr Peffer at the time said people who consistently exhibited poor behaviour would be shown the door in the following year, which he now says has "progressed pretty well".
"You make statements like that, that's one thing but when you back it up with action, then it actually makes that mean something for the workforce, and that's what we focused on over the last six months," he said.
"That has meant that there's been some changes in teams, but at the end of the day, that's the right thing to do."
Bed block caused by a large number of beds being taken up by patients needing an aged care facility or NDIS applicants in need of supported accommodation is also putting strain on the hospital.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr has urged the federal government to deliver on promised investments into aged care and the NDIS.
"Right now, in Canberra Health Services, I've got two-and-a-half wards of patients who are ready to go," Mr Peffer said.
"They're medically well, they're waiting to move into aged care or to have their NDIS packages settled, and hospital systems like ours only flow well when you've got discharges working well at the back door."
"When you take beds out of circulation, because ... patients aren't moving, you're taking a considerable amount of the capacity effectively offline and that's the situation that we're operating under at the moment."
The Canberra Health Services chief executive also acknowledged the impact that rising COVID infections were having on the hospital's capacity, adding that the ACT's caseload is higher than recorded. Canberra's known active caseload has been climbing since last Monday, hitting 7375 on Sunday.
"It's certainly having an impact and how long it will last for I'm not quite sure."
"We do know with the positivity rates that are being turned around through our labs at the moment that there's a significant undercount of the actual virus in the community, which poses its own challenges."
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