The Executive Summary is immediately below. More details of the statement can be found in our submission at the following link.
Subject: Proposal for Inclusion of a New NSQHS Standard on Psychological Safety, Trauma-Informed Care, and Protection of Clinician Wellbeing
Executive Summary
The current National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards (2nd edition) provide a critical framework for patient safety and quality improvement. However, they do not explicitly address the urgent and escalating risks of psychological harm, trauma, and moral injury within healthcare settings — risks that affect both patients and healthcare professionals.
Healthcare in Australia is not consistently psychologically safe. Trauma-informed care is often absent for patients, families, and staff, particularly those with intellectual, psychosocial, and cognitive disabilities. Organisational structures perpetuate retraumatisation, iatrogenic harms, vicarious trauma, moral injury, and even systemic human rights violations. These conditions fuel clinician exodus, skills shortages, worsening patient care, and loss of life.
