This theme applied concepts from the ‘responsive regulation’ model in examining ways to govern the performance of health care. The project produced a better understanding of the regulatory strategies likely to improve the safety and quality of health care and thus save lives and improve the health of Australians.

Completed projects

• ARC Linkages Project: Regulatory strategies for improving health sector performance An examination of the mix of ‘hard’ and ‘soft’ regulation and proposed productive pathways towards future ‘responsive regulation’ in the health sector
• Governance of health safety and quality – an ideas paper An ideas paper commissioned by the Safety and Quality Branch, Australian Department of Health and Ageing.
• Patient safety first: Responsive regulation in health care Leading patient safety experts evaluated promising regulatory approaches for making health care safer for patients.
• Correct patient, correct site and correct procedure: The implementation of the 3Cs protocol Misidentification errors in hospital are not as unusual as often assumed. This study examines why an apparently simple patient solution to the problem of wrong patient/site/procedure surgery proved less simple than expected to implement. *Regulating aged care: Ritualism and the new pyramid An analysis of the nursing home industry, examining trends in the regulation of aged care in Australia, the US and UK over the last 20 years.
• The governance of health care: Reluctant regulators A ‘responsive regulation’ framework is applied in mapping the scope and scale of regulatory actors and regulatory strategies, in Australia and internationally, which are intended to improve the performance of health care.
• Governing health care professionals Governance of the health professions is moving away from sole reliance on self-regulation by associations of professionals. This project examines the emergence of new regulatory bodies and the debates surrounding the licensing, development and discipline of health care professionals.