Six CDHB Finalists in National Health Awards

DATE: 25 November 2005

SUBJECT: Six CDHB Finalists in National Health Awards

Canterbury District Health Board has six finalists in the 2006 National Health & Innovation Awards.

Making the announcement, the General Manager of Hospital & Specialist Service Jock Muir said it was ‘simply fantastic’ to have so many finalists in the national competition.

‘To have six finalists out of 25 coming from Canterbury is a real achievement,’ he said. ‘We are extremely proud. It is an excellent example of the creativity of CDHB staff in looking at how we can continue to improve health outcomes for the people of our region.

Mr Muir said it was a demonstration of the level of commitment to quality and innovation that the CDHB had encouraged since its inception nearly five years ago. Last year, the CDHB had four finalists in the national award, two of whom took away national awards.

This year’s finalists from Canterbury include:

- Heart Failure Rehabilitation – establishing New Zealand’s first dedicated programme

- Mental Health Screening in a Women’s Prison (winner of the Clinical/Diagnostic Community based services at the 2005 CDHB Quality & Innovation Awards)

- Blood useage project – Red blood cells – making a little go a long way (This project won the 2005 CDHB Quality & Innovation Supreme Award)

- Improving communication efficiency – the Vocera Paging Pilot at Christchurch Hospital’s Emergency Department (winner of the Systems Improvement section of the CDHB’s 2005 Quality & Innovation Awards)

- The ‘SPRINT’ protocol for tight glycaemic control in critically ill patients (Project directed by Dr Geoff Shaw)

- A new system allowing target controlled delivery of volatile anaesthetics.

The 2006 New Zealand Health Innovation Awards which are run in conjunction with the NZ Business Excellence Foundation and the Ministry of Health will be announced in June next year.

ENDS

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