A National Approach to Safety and Quality in Australian Youth Justice: Lessons From Healthcare

The safety and quality of youth justice services across Australia have for some years now been the subject of concern, with numerous recommendations put forward to strengthen service delivery. However, there remains no accepted mechanism to assess the quality of services, with current approaches relying on risk elimination and containment strategies—often after an adverse incident has taken place. We contrast this with contemporary approaches to patient safety in healthcare which are more proactive and framed around the development of a culture in which quality is maintained, concluding that the reform of youth justice services in Australia could proceed at a faster rate if nationally consistent, coordinated and mutually accepted approaches to quality governance were to be applied.