Voting closed: 17,686 votes in for People’s Choice Award 2017
Voting has now officially closed for the NewsLocal People’s Choice Award in the 2017 Western Sydney Local Health District (WSLHD) Quality Awards – and a record 17,686 votes have been cast!
Winners of the 2017 Quality Awards will be announced in 15 categories at a glittering invitation-only event at ANZ Stadium on September 7.
Many votes for the People’s Choice Award were cast at the five Quality Awards showcases, held last week at Mount Druitt, Blacktown, Cumberland, Auburn and Westmead hospitals.
Dozens of staff and members of the public used iPads, set up during the showcases, to vote for their favourite project – and there’s some fantastic projects to choose from!
The finalists in the 2017 WSLHD Quality Awards are:
Patients as Partners Award
Stanford chronic disease self-management program, which has improved self-management in chronic pain sufferers from Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and overseas backgrounds by using culturally-appropriate techniques. Health literacy and confidence improved, leading to better clinical outcomes, and participants felt more supported and better able to manage their health.
Transforming care at the bedside, which involves patients and carers in handovers at the end of nursing shifts to improve patient experiences. The result: fewer trip-ups in care, and greater involvement and empowerment for both patients and carers. After 12 months, more than 65 per cent of patients are regularly asked to join in the handover at the end of each shift.
Integrated Health Care Award
Community eye care in Western Sydney, which has improved access to eye care and significantly reduced the need for hospital appointments. The program partners with local optometrists, who do standardised exams which are then reviewed remotely by Westmead Hospital ophthalmologists. waiting times for eye care have been slashed.
Rapid access to care and evaluation (RACE) program, which has implemented safe, early departures from Westmead Hospital’s emergency department for eligible elderly patients. Average length of stay in hospital has decreased significantly, and almost all patients on the program say they’d recommend it to others.
Translational Research Award
Pelvic floor muscle training pre and post radical prostatectomy, which has improved urinary continence levels – and general wellbeing – in post-operative prostate cancer patients. More than 80 per cent of urologists said it was effective in returning their patients to urinary continence, and 95 per cent said of patients said they were satisfied with the program and nine months after treatment.
Local Solutions Award
Westmead after-hours nurse cannulation team, which shares the cannulation workload across nursing and medical disciplines so staff can be where they are needed most. The change has allowed both teams to focus their skill sets where they are needed most, and improved outcomes for both patients and staff.
Hand therapy blitz, which makes every hand therapist and student available to treat chronic hand conditions on pre-determined days, reducing waiting lists enormously and leading to much greater patient satisfaction levels.
Preventive Health Award
Reducing public health risks associated with water splash parks, which reduced cases of cryptosporidiosis after auditing splash parks and implementing modified health guidelines for operators.
Rethink your drink, which has removed sugar-sweetened drinks from food outlets and vending machines at Westmead Hospital. Water was pushed as the drink of choice, leading to a 44 per cent increase in sales. There was also a spike in other healthy drinks as both patients and employees supported the trial.
Collaborative Team Award
To home or elsewhere, which reduced the number of vulnerable babies taken into care at birth by 75 per cent by working with families to break intergenerational cycles of behaviour. Lasting change was achieved by taking a multi-pronged approach across multiple agencies.
Partners make healthy normal, which worked with St Vincent de Paul to raise awareness of healthy eating and lifestyles. At the end of the six-month program, participants were eating more fruit and vegetables and drinking more water. There was a threefold increase to the Get Healthy Service.
Harry Collins Award
Stopping our SABSIs, which saved lives by reducing the rate of staph infections in the 48 hours after hospital admission. In 2008, the rate of infection was more than three per 10,000 occupied bed days. By 2016, that figure had tumbled to just 0.7 per 10,000 occupied bed days.
Spurring on SPAT, which ensured antibiotics were given to surgical patients at optimal levels. By September 2016, every audited antibiotic prescription at WSLHD was at optimal dosage. Only 15 per cent of surgical prophylaxis continued beyond the recommended 24 hours.
Arts and Health Award
Music and Memory program, which manages the devastating behavioural and psychological symptoms of dementia using personalised playlists. Many patients now dance and sing, and chat where they previously didn’t. With improved interaction has come reduced agitation and aggression and fewer need treatment with drugs.
Ten Thousand Paper Petals, a sculpture of origami flowers at Blacktown Hospital designed to build connections and reduce anxiety for the communities who use the hospital. An origami master worked with more than 100 people to create the work.
Innovation Award
Not Another DVT in the ED, which improved treatment of people presenting to the emergency department with deep vein thrombosis. There was a 60 per cent increase in appropriate investigation, treatment and referral. The time between ED assessment and follow-up in the acute clot clinic fell; 92 per cent of patients were seen in three days or less.
Innovative positional aids, which provided airway and forearm support for patients in the cardiac catheter laboratory, greatly improving access and stability for clinicians and comfort for patients.
Education and Training Award
ECAV Aboriginal qualification pathway, which increased the number of Aboriginal workers skilled in violence prevention. More than 270 people have graduated from through the pathway, specialising in areas including trauma counselling and social work.
Trauma team training, which used real-world simulations to prepare staff for challenging injury presentations. As a result, patients with major trauma are getting to surgery in less than half the time, and mortality in this urgent operation group has fallen by 25 per cent.
Bob Leece Award
Patient feedback – online, real time, anytime, which allowed patients and carers to provide real-time feedback on their experiences at Westmead and Auburn hospitals. More than 1300 surveys have been completed to date, and patient insights are improving services across the district.
Now You See It, which ensured inpatients Blacktown and Mount Druitt hospitals have all the nourishment they need by collecting data showing what patients order and how much they consume. Dietitian assistants have been upskilled to identify patients at risk of malnutrition, and up to 40 patients who need nutritional support are now identified each day where they would previously have gone undetected.
The Chair of the Board’s Award, Chief Executive’s Awards and WentWest Partnership Award will round out the awards.
The awards will be attended by VIPS including NSW Health Secretary Elizabeth Koff, Clinical Excellence Commission chief executive Carrie Marr and local MPs.
