Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards 2016

Media Release

November 3, 2016

Celebrating health excellence

The Canterbury Health System has celebrated an outstanding calibre of entries to the Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards this week.

The annual awards were held on Monday (October 31, 2016) to acknowledge excellence in the sector.

David Meates, Canterbury DHB Chief Executive, says it’s one of his favourite times of year – where the remarkable work of health system staff is recognised.

“I’m incredibly proud of the amazing efforts of everyone involved. I congratulate the entrants of this year’s awards and want to publicly acknowledge them for their continuous commitment and dedication to making our health system better.

“The courage to be innovative is rarely easy in health. Canterbury is fortunate to have broken down many of the barriers through better integration and encouraging people to do the right thing.

“Doing the right thing inspires innovation and drives improvement. That, and our focus on patients, is what makes our health system great.”

Winners of this year’s Supreme Award at the 2016 Canterbury Health System Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards, the team behind Improving Care Processes for Patients with Possible Acute Coronary Syndrome, has done an amazing job to improve patient care across the system. This entry also took out the Award in the Best Value for Public Health System Resourcescategory.

“The team developed a much more efficient way of ruling out heart attacks in patients presenting with chest pain to ED. It has been such a successful innovation it’s been picked up and implemented in other EDs around the country and internationally – something Canterbury can be really proud of.”

Mr Meates is thrilled the Pegasus Health 24 Hour Surgery won the Improved Health and Equity for All Populations category with its Queue Portal.

“Managing patient flow is a never-ending challenge in health and it’s great to see the Pegasus Health 24 Hour Surgery making significant improvements to waiting times and the patient experience, particularly as they have had to accommodate an increase of about 15,000 more patients over the last four years.”

Mr Meates says the winner for the Improved Quality Safety and Experience of Care couldn’t have gone to a better service.

“The loss of an unborn child is a devastating time for expectant parents but unfortunately it’s not uncommon – with around 20 percent of pregnancies miscarrying. It’s a really distressing event for women, their family/ whanau and one that the Early Pregnancy Assessment Service at Christchurch Women’s Hospital wanted to make easier for those going through it.”

Women with problems during early pregnancy now only come to Christchurch Women’s Hospital if hospital-based management is required. Most can be safely and successfully managed in the community.

Mr Meates says he commends all the winners and runners up of this year’s awards.

“Everyone in the Canterbury Health System deserves recognition for putting patients at the centre of what they do to deliver the best care.”

2016 Canterbury Health System - Quality Improvement and Innovation Award Winners

Supreme Award Winner

Improving Care Processes for Patients with Possible Acute Coronary Syndrome

Improved Health and Equity for all Populations

Improved Quality, Safety and Experience of Care

Best Value for Public Health System Resources

Highly Commended
Satisfaction with Crisis Resolution: Consumer, Family, Referrer Perspectives

Consumer Council Award
The Avastin Service Improvement Project

Posters- Winner
Reducing Treatment Times for OSA Using Multi-Patient Based Clinics

Posters- Runner Up
Sustaining Health’s National Treasures – Blood, Patients and Staff

Posters- People’s Choice
Making Medicines Education Memorable

ENDS

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