03 November 2008

Minister awards excellence in health care delivery

NSW Minister for Health John Della Bosca today congratulated the winners and finalists of the 10th Annual NSW Health Awards and thanked all health staff for continuing to make an outstanding contribution to the wellbeing of the community everyday.

Mr Della Bosca said he was impressed by the high level of innovation, skill and excellence demonstrated by health staff through the NSW Health Awards, which attracted a record level of interest with over 350 local projects reviewed.

“The NSW Health Awards bring to light the talent and passion of health care workers who have developed initiatives to improve the quality of care delivered to patients, the health of the population and performance of the health system in NSW,” Mr Della Bosca said.

“Not only do the Awards recognise hardworking health professionals, they also result in innovation and good practice being shared across the entire health system,” Mr Della Bosca said.

The 2008 winners in each category include:
Category 1 - Make Prevention Everybody's Business:
The Children’s Hospital at Westmead for Improving Hand Hygiene - Difficult, but not Impossible.

Category 2 - Create Better Experiences for People Using Health Services:
Sydney West Area Health Service for HealthCare for Older Persons Earlier (HOPE) Strategy - Westmead Hospital.

Category 3 - Strengthen Primary Health and Continuing Care in the Community:
Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service for the Northern Beaches Alternatives to Acute Hospital - APAC/GP Shared Care.

Category 4 - Build Regional and Other Partnerships for Health:
Hunter New England Area Health Service for Tenterfield Health Service’s From Little Things Big Things Grow - Promoting A Healthy Lifestyle In A Small Country Community.

Category 5 – Make smart choices about costs and benefits of health services:
Greater Southern Area Health Service for Wagga Wagga Mental Health Emergency Care Support Centre.

Category 6 - Build a Sustainable Health Workforce:
Children’s Hospital Westmead for E-learning - Improving Multidisciplinary Paediatric CPR.

Category 7 - Be Ready for New Risks and Opportunities:
Sydney South West Area Health Service for Campbelltown Hospital’s Reducing risk by moving clinical handover to the bedside.

The Minister also presented an additional award for innovation, excellence and commitment within the health system to Sydney West Area Health Service for the HealthCare for Older Persons Earlier (HOPE) Strategy at Westmead Hospital.

This project addresses the increasing number of patients presenting to the emergency department at Westmead by providing older people with fast-tracked access to skilled clinicians for responsive and appropriate care. As a result of this project, waiting times from triage to treatment for older people have improved significantly.

The winner of the Director General’s Encouragement Award was Sydney South West Area Health Service for Campbelltown Hospital’s The Deteriorating Patient - improving identification and management.

The Clinical Excellence Commission Award for Improvement in Patient Safety was won by the Children’s Hospital at Westmead for its initiative Reducing surgical site infection in the paediatric neurosurgical patient.

“Individuals and teams have worked tirelessly to develop initiatives which address the challenges of the health system. These Awards are our way of acknowledging their achievements,” Mr Della Bosca said.

“We are very fortunate to have so many talented and dedicated nurses, doctors and allied health practitioners in our public hospital system, often dealing with very significant challenges and providing a fantastic service to our community,” Mr Della Bosca said.

For more details on the winners and finalists of the 2008 NSW Health Awards go to www.awards-expo.health.nsw.gov.au.

For a range of health information, go online to www.health.nsw.gov.au