Published on 15 November 2023
The Best Care Awards were announced on Friday 10 November 2023, and the competition for the awards was exceptionally high with the judges commenting on the high quality and diverse nature of the submissions.
Congratulations to the recipients of the following awards.
Safe Care Award
Summer Chambers, Mei Lee, Spania Khun and Kate Law from New Born Services received the Safe Care Award for Project LINEZ: A quality improvement project aimed at reducing CLABSI to zero in newborn services. Having identified that our Newborn Central Line Associated Bacterial Infection was approximately twice the national average, the team took action. Firstly, looking at the processes involved and areas of high risk the team drew up procedures to minimise the risk as part of their safety bundle. This was implemented with their team and coupled with vigilance and monitoring.
Person Centred Care Award
Rebecca Fewster, Phong Tran, Claire Burrows, Raheela Datoo, Chris Weiers, Mary De Gori, Matthew Thorpe, Abi Davis, Rachel Kropman and Richard Grygiel received the Person-Centred Care Award for ERAS – Enhanced recovery after surgery. ERAS prioritises person-centred care, by tailoring surgical optimisation by ensuring that patients are helped across all aspects of care prior to surgery. Through the tailoring of the care provided for hip and knee replacement the ERAS team has been able to reduce the length of stay in hospital by 1.5 days on average, while reducing readmission rates. Delivering safe and patient centred care.
Coordinated Care Award
Ainslee Senz, Elizabeth Borowik, Renie Lloyd and Doriana Andreou from the Footscray Emergency Department received the Coordinated Care Award for Footscray short stay unit flow. The Short Stay Unit (SSU) is crucial in achieving the flow required to see new patients in a timely manner. The team identified two interventions to implement in the unit – capping the number of patients admitted to the SSU and allowing better flow by defining criteria for direct admission. By implementing these changes, the unit was able to see measurable improvement in the way the SSU ran, as well as positive impacts on the whole of the ED.
Right Care Award
Sarah Saxionis and Chelsea Baxter from Occupational Therapy received the Right Care Award for Improving outcomes for acute inpatient orthopaedic patients. In this project it was identified that patients regularly had to wait 24-72 hours for equipment delivery to ensure that they were able to return safely home – time that was delaying discharge. Using the IHI Model for Improvement (which Western Health has adopted), Sarah and Chelsea were able to implement a number of small PDSA cycles to ensure the right OT equipment was available to the consumer when needed. As a consequence, the patients have been able to go home sooner.
My thanks to everyone who submitted a nomination for these awards, it is fantastic to see the ongoing commitment to continual improvement occurring so strongly at Western Health.
My thanks also to the Best Care Governance and Support team for organising the awards and the judges for their time.
All projects submitted for the awards are available to view on the Improvement Project Showcase on the Live Best Care Site.
Regards,
Adjunct Professor Shane Crowe
Executive Director Nursing and Midwifery