The Public Sector Standards in Human Resource (HR) Management (the standards) set out the minimum standards of merit, equity and probity to be complied with by WA public sector bodies and their employees.
The Department of Health and EMHS maintain HR policies and guidelines that are consistent with the standards. These are available to all employees on the EMHS intranet and/or the Department of Health policy frameworks internet pages.
Information about the Public Sector Standards is promoted and available to employees via:
- notification of the breach claim rights processes, including relevant deadlines applicable to the standards
- information, fact sheets, policies and guidelines on the EMHS intranet
- recruitment, selection and appointment training for recruiting managers and panel members
- EMHS peak performance training for line managers.
The HR Directorate provides information, guidance and support to all managers to promote best practice and application of these policies and procedures, and also manages any claims made against the Public Sector Standards. Advice is also provided, where appropriate, in order to reach a prompt, satisfactory outcome at the most appropriate level.
During 2025-26, there were:
16 breach of standard claims lodged against the employment standards:
- 5 were resolved internally and withdrawn
- 0 are currently being managed by HR
- 11 were referred to the Public Sector Commission
0 breach of standard claims for grievance resolution, performance management, termination or redeployment standards.
Code of Conduct
Integrity and ethical behaviour are integral to EMHS’ core business. EMHS reminds and encourages staff to reflect on the EMHS values (including accountability, integrity and respect) and to incorporate these into their daily work.
To support awareness of their responsibilities, new staff receive and acknowledge the Code of Conduct as a part of their offer of employment to work with EMHS. Responsibility for workplace behaviours and conduct is reinforced at formal induction, and through completion of mandatory training.
In addition to mandatory training, EMHS proactively provides training to staff where appropriate, covering areas such as conflicts of interest, medicine discrepancies and investigations.
In order to ensure its effectiveness, EMHS has recently conducted an audit into its Fraud and Corruption Control System. The audit concluded that EMHS has a strong commitment to fraud and corruption control through established governance frameworks aligned with Department of Health policy, a values-based culture and a clearly articulated Code of Conduct. The audit identified a number of areas for improvement, for which EMHS has developed and implemented actions to address.
The EMHS Ethical Conduct Advisory Committee (ECAC) was established in 2023-24, comprising of a group of senior executive stakeholders. The ECAC has met regularly throughout 2025-26, with its main functions being the development and management of strategies to improve integrity awareness, compliance and culture. This financial year, this included the full review of EMHS’ integrity environment using the Public Sector Commission’s Integrity Maturity self-assessment tool. This process identified some areas for improvement, for which actions were put in place.
EMHS commenced 63 disciplinary processes in relation to potential breaches of policy and/or the Code of Conduct in 2025-26. All suspected breaches of discipline, including reportable misconduct, were managed in accordance with the requirements of the WA Health Discipline Policy and where appropriate, reported to external oversight agencies as required by legislation.