Hunter New England Health excels in Premier’s Public Sector Awards
Hunter New England Health’s achievements in delivering high quality healthcare have been recognised with the area health service winning five awards in the 2007 Premier’s Public Sector Awards in Sydney last Friday.
The Premier's Public Sector Awards have been presented since 1997 to encourage and acknowledge outstanding initiatives which have produced proven benefits for New South Wales. They formally recognise and reward achievements of excellence and provide an opportunity to showcase the NSW public sector's commitment to quality and the provision of service.
The Awards are open to all NSW public sector agencies including departments, authorities, boards, commissions, government trading enterprises and state owned corporations.
Hunter New England Health Acting Chief Executive Dr Nigel Lyons said he is very proud of the area health service and its success at the awards.
“Hunter New England Health is committed to providing high quality healthcare to the people of the Hunter New England Health region and I am very proud of our staff and the outstanding work they are doing to make this happen,” Dr Lyons said.
“Winning five Premier’s Awards is a significant achievement and well-deserved recognition for the teams involved and the difference these quality improvement projects are making to our communities.
“We were competing against the best in the state and I am extremely proud of our success.”
Hunter New England Health entered 10 projects in the 2007 Premier’s Public Sector Awards.
HUNTER NEW ENGLAND HEALTH WINNERS IN THE PREMIER’S PUBLIC SECTOR AWARDS WERE:
Category: Delivering Better Services
Gold award
Emergency Department Redesign and Streaming - Improving access to emergency care – John Hunter Hospital
Project description:
A fast-track area called “Emergency Express” was created in the John Hunter Hospital Emergency Department. Patients are streamed to staff teams according to the complexity and acuity of their presenting problem. Increasing the numbers of patients being treated in the fast track area, improves patient throughput and reduces the number of patients occupying a bed in the acute treatment area.
Silver award
Pre hospital Acute Stroke Triage: Translating evidence into practice
Project description:
The Pre-hospital Acute Stroke Triage (PAST) protocol was developed by John Hunter Hospital staff in partnership with NSW Ambulance Service and Hunter New England Imaging to reduce pre-hospital and emergency department delays for stroke patients accessing stroke care. The stroke triage protocol improves access for acute stroke patients to organised stroke care and ‘clot busting’ therapy. Improved, rapid access results in substantial improvements with long-term outcomes.
Highly commended
Referral and Information Service for Greater Newcastle Community Health
Project description:
The Referral and Information Centre (RIC) was developed to enhance existing services by improving and integrating access to community health services in the Greater Newcastle Cluster (GNC) by establishing a single entry point. This is designed to assist clients to navigate the complex health service by using specifically trained clinical staff and sophisticated technology to streamline the referral system and diminish duplication. By listening to the client story, RIC is able to take referrals for one or more of the services managed by GNC or refer them to more appropriate HNE Health, other government, non-government or private services.
Category: Fairness and Opportunity
Gold award
Safeguarding our nations - an Aboriginal screening project
Project description:
This project was aimed at developing holistic strategies to maintain kidney health and address the emerging cardiovascular disease risk linked with early levels of kidney dysfunction within the Indigenous population residing in the Hunter New England Health region. The project supported recent reports commissioned by Kidney Health Australia collating evidence to show screening for chronic kidney disease (CKD) is necessary and achievable. The project was very much community based and it explored the issues involved in enacting a range of cost effective screening options suitable for use within Aboriginal communities.
Category: Delivering Locally
Silver award
Eye Surgery in Moree - A collaborative approach
Project description:
This project introduced ophthalmology (eye) surgery to the Moree District Health Service through a unique collaboration with Pius X Aboriginal Coporation, Moree District Health Service and the Outback Eye Service (Sydney Eye Hospital and Prince of Wales Hospital). With similar goals, the services collaborated to ensure provision of opthamology services, and in particular cataract surgery, to the community of Moree and surrounding districts.
Contact: Gemma Smith
Phone: 49214501