13 October 2007

Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service staff awarded for excellence and innovation

NSW Minister for Health Reba Meagher today congratulated Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service for its performance in the 2007 NSW Health Awards held last night.

"The NSW Health Awards provide a valuable opportunity each year to recognise outstanding contributions of health care workers from across the state," Ms Meagher said.

"The award entries reflect the innovation, ingenuity and energy of a wide range of staff in the NSW Health system.

"Each new initiative was designed by an individual or team of health professionals committed to improving the quality of care for patients and the way in which it is delivered to the community," Ms Meagher said.

Ms Meagher said the winners and finalists awarded had been selected from more than 120 entries.

"For the first time this year individual hospitals have also been awarded for improving performance in emergency departments and surgery based on statewide benchmarks," Ms Meagher said.

Northern Sydney Central Coast was recognised in the following categories:

• Winner in the award category - To Keep People Healthy - Best Performance for 2006/07 - Northern Sydney Central Coast Area Health Service.
• Finalist in the Be ready for new risks and opportunities category - the 'SafeClub - a risk management program improving community sports safety' project: The SafeClub program was developed to help community sports clubs implement their own user friendly frameworks to introduce safety activities and reduce the threat of injury to players.
• Finalist for the Clinical Excellence Commission Award for Improvement in Patient Safety - the 'Preventing Surgical Site Infections (SSI) in Maternity - a collaborative approach' project: This project aimed at decreasing the incidence of surgical site infections following caesarean sections through better training for staff and more information for patients. The project led to significant improvements with the infection rate decreasing from 20 per cent to zero in just 11 months.

"I am truly inspired by all of these excellent initiatives and congratulate all of this year's winners and finalists," Ms Meagher said.

"The NSW Government is committed to providing health professionals with the resources and support they need to facilitate ongoing improvements in clinical quality, safety and performance in our hospitals.

"I believe the dedication, innovation and teamwork of health staff combined with this year's record $12.5 billion investment in health services - an additional $831 million or 7.1 per cent increase on last year - will ensure the NSW health system remains among the best in the world," Ms Meagher said.

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