Lakes Quality and Staff Award winners announced

Lakes DHB Anaesthetist Dr Cambell Bennett has won the Ross Bohm Clinical Quality Initiative Award for a Senior Medical Officer at the 2017 Lakes DHB Quality and Staff Awards.

Cambell Bennett was a driving force behind the formation of the Sustainability Committee in 2013. The committee meets regularly and is committed to fostering a culture of sustainability throughout the organisation, and encouraging staff to practice sustainability at work, home, and whilst commuting. The committee also works to seek ways to reduce its use of finite resources such as water and petrol, to reduce its contribution to pollution through waste reduction and recycling and to purchase from responsible and sustainable sources when financially feasible.

Other contenders in this category were: Stephen Bradley: Clinical Handover – SBARR; Ulrike Buehner: CQI Halfdays; Danny De Lore: Revitalising Grand Rounds; Johan Morreau: First 1000 days TED talk.

The fifth Lakes DHB Quality and Staff awards were held in the Rotorua Hospital atrium today with a range of winners across a number of categories announced. The awards recognise outstanding achievement and commitment to excellence, quality improvement and patient centred care across the Lakes district.

Lakes DHB House Officer Dr Shawn Gielen-Relph won the staff award for a resident medical officer (RMO). Shawn Gielen has shown a commitment to service improvement by identifying opportunities to improve patient care. This has been demonstrated in his support for the junior doctors’ improvement group and his commitment to audit, with his involvement in a range of audits including over the year in a range of areas.

Other contenders in this category were: Alice Hawkins; Miriam van den Boom; Anthony Hall.

There was a strong line up of nine nominations for the Lakes DHB administration staff award with the entire Clinical Records Team named the winner. The team members are very hard working, with limited visibility across the DHB about what goes on in the Clinical Records Department. The team members work well together, ensuring that a seamless service is provided to hospital staff and to outside agencies requesting information.

Other contenders in this category were: Jo Scott; Karen Wrigley; Anne Kiel; Irene Rangiwhetu; Lynda Cantel; Johanna Marsden; Payroll Team; Outpatient referral centre: Debbie Waretini, Debbie Devereaux and Charlotte Harman; Lyndsay Paterson; Rachael Morrison; Beryl Harris.

The award for a Lakes DHB allied health practitioner who has consistently gone beyond the call of duty went to Jenni McGowan, Charge Hospital Play Specialist. During the 10 years in her role Jennie has shown total dedication to all the children and their whanau during their hospital journeys. Jenny works alongside children providing procedural play, distraction techniques and general play activities, helping to ease fear and anxiety for the child having a procedure done, or just having to be in the hospital environment.

Other contenders in this category were: Jason Sayers; Caroline Williams; Kim Setters.

The Lakes DHB non-clinical support award was won by Purchasing Officer Gilly Hewson. Her line manager is often contacted by staff commenting on Gilly’s conscientious and professional role. This year saw her covering extended sick leave of the other purchasing staff member, Donna Rolleston who died in October. Gilly picked up the additional workload without complaint, unfazed by the areas of work she was not familiar with. Gilly’s dedication to her work, her concern for her customers and ultimately patients, showcases her complete professionalism and dedication to her role makes her most deserving of this award.

Other contenders in this category were: Sally Hurihanganui; Jono Matthews; Tanya Taylor.

There were four categories in the quality section of the awards ceremony, Patient Safety and Clinical Effectiveness, Quality and Clinical Innovation, Patient Experience and Integrated Health. All the initiatives submitted into the Lakes DHB Quality Account 2016/17 were forwarded to the judging team to review and select their choice of winner for each of the four categories.

Midwife Kay Towers won the patient safety and clinical effectiveness award for her initiative the Inverted Uterus – Emergency Treatment Box. The initiative aimed to improve the response time to clinical emergency situations, by making the treatment box more user-friendly and kept up to date. Kay was not present at the ceremony.

Diabetes Educator Lewese Hicks won the quality and clinical innovation award for her work on the DAFNE Project. This initiative has provided a validated, structured and reproducible diabetes education programme to empower people with Type 1 Diabetes. The programme educates them on their condition and enables them to live as normally as possible, in terms of changes of diet, being able to exercise and helping them cope with variability in insulin requirements caused by daily living. Taupo Facility Manager Angela Guy accepted the award on Lewese’s behalf.

Midwife Lisa Kennedy won the patient experience award for her Cleft Lip and Palate Guideline Project. Lisa created a guideline and a resource box that educates about cleft lip and palate, helping to familiarise midwives and nurses on what a cleft palate is, how to diagnose and where to refer to.

Esthe Davis and the Mental Health Services for Older People (MHSOP) won the integrated healthcare award for their initiative of streamlining management for a client presenting with complex needs. The initiative can reduce unnecessary client contacts and duplication of services and ensure safe consistent care is provided to the client.

The Quality Awards were established in 2008 to raise awareness of health initiatives in the Lakes district, and showcase continuous quality. The awards have since evolved to include staff awards for excellence and post graduate scholarships. Money invested from a substantial bequest received from the estate of Mr G. Stolwyk is used to fund awards and clinical scholarships recognising excellence amongst the groups providing health services to the Lakes district.

Chaplaincy Administrator Alison Lamberton was awarded a ‘good sorts’ award in recognition of her role in supporting Chaplain Ray Bloomfield and the Chaplaincy Team.