General News
2 January, 2025
150 years of Wimmera Base Hospital: looking back on Professor Alan Wolff OAM
Prof Alan Wolff OAM: Delivering excellence in quality of care.
After dedicating his life to the sustainability of rural health, particularly through the introduction of clinical risk and quality improvement programs, Professor Alan Wolff OAM retired due to illness in 2020 and passed away on August 10, 2021.
In the early 1980s, a young Dr Wolff was working in medical administration at Royal Melbourne Hospital when his wife, Dr Yvonne Cymbalist, wanted to learn more about obstetrics and came to Horsham to work under the long-serving Dr Eric Miller.
Not wanting to be separated from Yvonne, Dr Wolff convinced his boss to allow him six months of work in Horsham, and the pair soon fell in love with the town and its community.
When a full-time position became available, Dr Wolff applied and started officially in January 1984.
Professor Wolff held the Director of Medical Services position at Wimmera Health Care Group for 36 years, but his waning health inevitably compelled him to step down.
His expertise in medical experience and strong research interest in clinical risk management and quality improvement methods have supported Wimmera Health Care Group in improving and delivering high-quality care.
He spent over 20 years developing and refining an integrated and sustainable quality improvement and risk management program for Wimmera Health Care Group.
The model was implemented extensively in Victorian, national and international hospitals.
It was supported by relevant evidence, a theory-based book, journal articles, lecturing and numerous presentations aimed at sharing his expansive knowledge to enhance patient care.
Prof Wolff was very proud of the adverse event screening program he developed at Wimmera Health Care Group in June 1989, which led to establishing the second clinical risk management unit in an Australian hospital.
The Limited Adverse Occurrence Screening model was adapted from the Medical Management Analysis Program in America, but it emphasizes the simplicity of screening criteria, low cost, and the involvement of all medical staff.
Comprehensive data on the program's implementation over the past 20 years are now available, demonstrating a continuous and sustained reduction in adverse events in our healthcare group.
The LAOS program was extended to 10 small hospitals in the Wimmera by The Centre for Rural Health at Monash University and the West Vic. Division of General Practice in a program funded by the Department of Human Services.
Subsequently, it was rolled out across 80 small hospitals in Victoria, where it provided the main clinical quality and safety program in many of these hospitals for over 10 years.
Prof Wolff was a key driver in establishing the Clinical Pathway Program at Wimmera Health Care Group. This program incorporated daily checklists and reminders into the inpatient medical records to improve compliance with best clinical practices.
Today, 60 clinical pathways have been developed at Wimmera Health Care Group for use when caring for patients during acute and elective admissions in medicine, general and specialist surgery, obstetrics and paediatrics.
Clinical Pathways have significantly improved clinical care, patient management, length of stay and multidisciplinary involvement.
In 2009, Prof Wolff and WHCG director Clinical Improvement, Risk and Innovation Sally Taylor wrote "Enhancing Patient Care: a practical guide to improving quality and safety in hospitals".
The book provides a comprehensive review of the quality and safety literature, distilling the practical aspects of designing, implementing, and maintaining an effective quality and safety program in a hospital.
It also describes the Wimmera quality and safety programs in detail.
Prof Wolff was the program manager for the medical records review component of the Integrated Quality Management Model program, which is supported by the Commonwealth Department of Health and Family Services as part of the National Hospital Outcomes Program.
For eight years, he was the Assistant Director of the CHECK program, a monthly postgraduate education and quality assurance publication distributed to 12,000 general practitioner subscribers in Australia.
He was a member of the Victorian Quality Council and of the Department of Human Services' Clinical Risk Management Reference Group.
He was also chair for four of his nine years with the Sentinel Event Review Sub Committee.
Today, Prof Wolff's legacy lives through the Alan Wolff Medical Centre, renamed in his honour in 2021.