Australian first for Pinelodge

DANDENONG’S St John of God Pinelodge Clinic has achieved an Australian first.
The drug, alcohol and mental health centre has received the National Mental Health Standards Certificate, plus the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) Equip National Accreditation Certificate.
Pinelodge Clinic is the first private hospital in Australia to achieve accreditation in both standards.
“Not only are we proud that we achieved both of these standards, we are also proud that we did not receive any recommendations to improve our services,” Pinelodge clinical risk and quality manager Amanda Ginger said.
“In fact, we achieved 11 ‘Met with Merits’ which indicates our service is of an extremely high quality.
“Seven of our ‘Met with Merits’ were for engagement with consumers and carers.
“We believe that Pinelodge Clinic has now set the bar for other mental health services.”
From January, all hospitals in Australia were to comply with the new set of National Standards in health care.
The Australian Health Ministers endorsed the standards in September 2011 to improve the quality of care and safety through a nationally consistent approach.
Pinelodge not only embraced the new national standards but set its sights higher and included the National Mental Health Standards.
The 54-bed private hospital specialises in mental health and drug and alcohol rehabilitation, and offers in-patient and day therapy programs.