ACHS 26th Quality Improvement Award Winners Announced
Watch the full proceedings of our Annual Awards Ceremony 2023 where we announce our QI Award Winners and celebrate their quality improvement achievements.
The winners of the ACHS Quality Improvement (QI) Awards in 2023 have been announced during the ACHS Annual Awards Ceremony. The following winning organisations showcased dedication to fostering innovation in various healthcare settings, focusing on enhancements in patient safety and outcomes. Congratulations goes to Central Adelaide Local Health Network from South Australia (SA), Northern Sydney Local Health District - Primary and Community Health and also Royal North Shore Hospital (NSLHD), from New South Wales (NSW).
Dr. Karen Luxford, ACHS CEO, presented the awards across three categories: Clinical Excellence and Patient Safety, Non-Clinical Service Delivery, and Healthcare Measurement.
The Clinical Excellence and Patient Safety Award was presented to Adam Spicer and Andrew Wiley from Central Adelaide Local Health Network who won with their submission titled ‘Hep C is Everyone’s Business – An Approach for Virtual Elimination of Hepatitis C from South Australian Prisons’. The SA Prison Health Service demonstrated a virtual elimination of Hepatitis C from its prison network, only made possible through multi-agency and multi-disciplinary approach to administering new direct-acting antivirals (DAAs) for the treatment of Hepatitis C. The project involved breaking down key pre-existing barriers around testing and treatment through education and increasing engagement of key stakeholders in these processes.
Bruno Villamea Santos, Cathy Butler and Tingting Chen from Northern Sydney Local Health District - Primary and Community Health (NSLHD) won the Non-Clinical Service Delivery Award for their submission titled, ‘From words to images: Implementing Video Interpreting’. NSLHD focused on the Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) community, as well as customers with hearing impairments, empowering them to make informed decisions and actively participate in their own care. Using modern virtual care pathways, including video, and a dedicated team of interpreters, NSLHD was able to demonstrate the reduction in risk of misunderstandings and misdiagnoses leading to better clinical outcomes. The project is now looking to be scaled across the NSLHD using a practical implementation guide.
The Healthcare Measurement Award was won by Sue Williams, Marissa Sakiris, Elizabeth Bryan, Helen Ganley and Kimberly Attenborough from Royal North Shore Hospital with their project, ‘Parkinson Inpatient Experience (PIE) Project’. The aim of the PIE project was to address the experience and outcomes of patients suffering from Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Focusing on in-patient identification inefficiencies and timely medication administration, driving excellence in inpatient medication management, subsequently demonstrating an optimisation of health service efficiency and improvement of health outcomes for PD patients.
Dr Luxford remarked “Now in its 26th year, the QI Awards continues to recognise healthcare organisations for their outstanding quality improvement activities, initiatives and strategies. Each year, we receive an increasing number of applications, showing the commitment our Members have to the safety and quality of care to patients.”
“ACHS is proud to share the winning and highly commended submissions to inspire innovation and excellence. Congratulations again to our winners.” Dr Luxford said.
For further information about the winning submissions and other highly commended entrants please view the latest Quality Initiatives Publication.
Full recording of the proceedings can be viewed here.
