13 October 2007

Hunter New England Area Health Service staff awarded for excellence and innovation

NSW Minister for Health Reba Meagher today congratulated the winners and finalists from Hunter New England Area Health Service 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.

Hunter New England Area Health Service was recognised in the following categories:

• Winner of the Minister's Excellence Award and winner in the Build a sustainable health workforce category - the 'Australian Medical Council Graduates - Setting Them Up To Succeed' project: This pilot project provides Australian Medical Council Graduates across the HNEAHS with an equitable opportunity for unconditional registration. It involves establishing a professional development program to support the transition of this group of doctors to the Australian clinical setting, resulting in an increase in retention rates.
• Winner of the Director-General's Encouragement Award - the 'Advanced liver disease: A new system for supporting patients' project: This project trialed the use of a Gastro Liaison Nurse Service to coordinate the management of patients with chronic liver disease. Evaluation found the Service resulted in fewer unplanned hospital admissions, fewer emergency department presentations and reduced the length of hospital stays.
• Winner of the Clinical Excellence Commission Award for Improvement in Patient Safety category and finalist in the Build regional and other partnerships for health category - the 'PAST: Pre-hospital Acute Stroke Triage' project (won by Hunter New England Area Health Service in partnership with the NSW Ambulance Service): This project at John Hunter Hospital aimed to improve stroke patient triage by providing rapid access to organised stroke care and 'clot busting' thrombolysis - resulting in improvements in long-term outcomes for patients.
• Winner of the Hospital Performance Awards - Smaller Rural District Hospitals - Best Performance for 2006/07 - Narrabri Hospital.
• Finalist in the Make Prevention Everybody's Business category - the 'Reduction of Multi-resistant Organism Transmission in Tertiary Intensive Care' project: This project introduced a number of new strategies including the statewide 'Clean Hands' campaign to restrict the presence of MROs in the intensive care unit at John Hunter Hospital.

"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