Transcript - 2020 NSW Health Awards

Voiceover: Welcome to the 2020 NSW Health Awards.

Please welcome Uncle Allen Madden

Uncle Allen Madden: Good afternoon.

My name is Allen Madden, Gadigal Elder.

For my first song, nuh, only kidding.

Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, first and foremost I'd like to acknowledge our Aboriginal elders, all elders past and present, and pay my respects to all our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander brothers and sisters, from whatever Aboriginal or island nation you may have come from, welcome to Cammeraygal.

And to all our non-indigenous brothers and sisters, a very warm and sincere welcome to you, no matter where you've come from, whether it be across the seas, across the state, or across town, once again, a very warm and sincere welcome to you.

Where we are today is the Cammeraygal. The Cammeraygal is one of the 29 clans of the Eora nation.

The Eora nation is bounded by nature's own, the Hawkesbury River to the north, Nepean to the west, and Georges River to the south.

And in between those three mighty rivers is Eora nation.

And in that nation, there are 29 clans, and the clans land we're on today is the Cammeraygal.

On behalf of members of the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council and of the Cammeraygal mob, once again, a very warm and sincere welcome to you.

And as you travel across these traditional lands and waters, may the spirits of our ancestors guide, look over you and keep you safe.

So once again, on behalf of Land Council and of the Cammeraygal mob, welcome, welcome, welcome.

Thank you.

Voiceover: Thank you, Uncle Allen.

Please welcome the Secretary for NSW Health, Ms. Elizabeth Koff.

Elizabeth Koff: I also would like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, the Cammeraygal people.

We honour the ancestors of yesterday, the custodians of today and those of tomorrow.

Welcome to the 2020 NSW Health Awards.

I would like to acknowledge our Health Minister Brad Hazzard for his leadership particularly during the last 12 months and Minister Bronnie Taylor for her leadership in mental health.

Their ongoing commitment to ensuring we deliver the best of care to the people of NSW is greatly appreciated by our health system.

Now in its 22nd year, the awards are a focal point of each year bringing us together to celebrate the achievements and successes of the NSW Health system.

2020 is history-making with the drought, bushfires, and we are all living through a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic.

NSW Health is at the centre of the ongoing response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

And it has impacted each and every one of us.

While life for some went into hibernation with schools and offices across the state closing down, we in the health system had quite the opposite experience.

Our 164,000 strong workforce stepped up to the challenge to respond and prepare for the pandemic.

Across the system, a range of COVID-19 clinical initiatives, administrative and management arrangements were put into place.

These included establishing teams of contact traces, standing up testing clinics, increasing ICU capacity and training, the rapid purchase of medical equipment and PPE and workforce surge planning to name only a few of the many initiatives.

The NSW Health system has responded to the pandemic challenge and everyone has contributed to our ongoing COVID-19 response and keeping the health system operating.

I thank you for your sustained efforts, commitment, and dedication.

This year the awards look different as with everything we have done and are doing during this pandemic.

We are taking a COVID-safe approach with this broadcast, with local COVID-safe gatherings taking place to mark this event.

Through these awards, we recognise innovative and sustainable health programs that deliver outcomes that matter to patients and invest in the community of NSW.

The teams and individuals represented by our finalists showcase the incredibly innovative work being undertaken, and the passion and commitment of staff.

While this year has presented many significant challenges, our services have pivoted to ensure ongoing care through modifying models of care and developing new virtual or telehealth options, which is a great achievement.

Your skill and agility enabled us to progress our vital work to provide high quality clinical, mental health and community health care, and that is what these awards showcase.

The COVID-19 pandemic also created opportunities for us to shine and demonstrate innovation in everything we do.

These awards highlight only some of the excellent work being achieved every day.

And I am very proud to share these remarkable achievements and celebrate with you.

I hope you enjoy today's online event to find out who the winners are of the 2020 NSW Health Awards.

Voiceover: Thank you, Ms. Koff.

Please welcome the Minister for Health and Medical Research, the Honourable Brad Hazzard MP.

Brad Hazzard: Good afternoon, welcome to the 2020 Health Awards.

This year, of course, it's a little different, in the way that we're presenting the awards.

No matter where you are across the state, I'd like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land, where we're all meeting to share in these awards.

It has been a tough year, 2020, not just for the broader community, but for our health family, no matter where you are.

It has been a very different year.

Can I thank each and every one of you for the work you have done during this last nine, 10 months' period.

Clearly we have been challenged.

We are the biggest and the best public health system, in my view, in the country, but a system is only as good as each and every one of you.

So it is my honour to be able to share with you, in this slightly different way this year, across the 10 nomination award categories.

And this year, I think we've had 161 nominations, so not a lot less than last year.

For each of you, whether it's the nurses, the doctors, allied health staff, paramedics, cleaners, pathologists, administrative staff, whoever it is, you have all played your part this year in getting us through what has been a very, very tough year.

Each of you have had to do things, probably, in a little different way from what you've done in the past.

Not only have you applied your normal capacity and skills, you've had to be innovative.

For that, the government and I, as your Health Minister, want to thank you.

You have done a remarkable job as part of this very, very big health system.

As a result, we're seeing some very positive outcomes.

Particularly this year, when it's been such a tough year with COVID, I think we've all been challenged.

Each individual in our health system has been challenged.

Our entire health system has been challenged, but you've all risen to the occasion.

These awards, though, are celebrating excellence, chosen by your peers, and who better to know and understand but your peers?

You are all making a huge difference for our community, and in this year, that extra effort that you've all made has well been recognised, I think, by our community.

It certainly is the case that the entire community is backing the public health system that you're part of.

So again, thank you.

As your Minister, I'm very proud of each and every one of you and I now look forward to sharing, as I'm sure you do, in just seeing who were chosen as those of the ultimate excellence, and I look forward to celebrating with you all in these 2020 Health Awards.

Voiceover: Thank you, Minister Hazzard.

Now it's time to reveal our first group of winners.

The Finalist for the 2020 NSW Health Awards in the Excellence in Aboriginal Healthcare category are, Hunter New England Local Health District, Defining the gap, Planning and Reporting Framework.

Mid North Coast Local Health District, The Dunghutti Muri Project, optimizing access to the Mid North Coast Brain Injury Service for Local Aboriginal People.

Ministry of Health one point 5, A COVID-19 Anthem for Aboriginal Young People.

The winner of the Excellence in Aboriginal Healthcare award is, Hunter New England Local Health District, Defining the Gap, Planning and Reporting Framework.

Aimee Smith: The driving force behind our work was to create visibility about how Aboriginal consumers felt accessing our health services.

We created systems and processes to help us use health data to monitor how Aboriginal people compared to non Aboriginal people when they access to health care.

We're very honoured to receive the inaugural excellence in Aboriginal Healthcare Award.

We'd like to accept this on behalf of our organisation and acknowledge all the hard work of everybody that's contributed to this work over the years.

Stacey Simpson: We'd like to acknowledge the contribution from our executive leadership team, director of Aboriginal Health and the activity and performance unit for their contribution to this framework.

We feel very honoured and privileged to accept this award.

Voiceover: The finalists for the 2020 NSW Health Awards in the Health Research and Innovation category are,

The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, A Childhood Cancer National Precision Medicine Program.

South West Sydney Local Health District, Faster, cheaper, safer use of ECG for Central Line Placement.

NSW Health Pathology, Unlocking the Puzzle of COVID-19 Transmission.

The winner of the Health Research and Innovation award is,

The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network, A Childhood Cancer National Precision Medicine Program.

A/Prof David Ziegler: The driving force behind our program was really to improve outcomes for children with the most aggressive and the most difficult to treat cancers, to see if we can identify new genetic targets and new treatments.

I'm just so grateful for this award and really, It goes to the whole team.

It's an incredible team of clinicians, scientists, people from all around Australia with lots of expertise who've dedicated many many hours to this program,and this really is a testament to them and all the work that they've done for our patients.

I'd like to thank NSW Health for this award. I'd like to thank all the people from around Australia who are part of this program.

I'd like to thank the patients and their parents who have supported the program and I'd like to thank the many different donors who have helped us get this off the ground and allowed us to achieve this remarkable outcome.

Voiceover: The Finalist for the 2020 NSW Health Awards in the Keeping People Healthy category are,

NSW Health Pathology, An Extraordinary Response to the Global COVID-19 pandemic.

Hunter New England Local Health District, COVID clinics. A Massive Drive-Through Response.

Sydney Local Health District, Keeping Them Safe, A Rapid Response for Vulnerable People During COVID-19.

The winner of the Keeping People Healthy award is, NSW Health Pathology, An Extraordinary Response to the Global COVID-19 Pandemic.

Prof Dominic Dwyer: The key part of fighting COVID-19 was being able to make the diagnosis of the infection quickly so that public health could act and so the community could understand what was going on.

This award is really about a team and it's a team across all parts of pathology.

It's the scientists in the lab, it's the doctors who act on the results, it's the people who purchase all the material, it's the people who work out the logistics, it's the information technology.

All of those things have been brought together. And this is really about everyone working together.

One of the keys to successes this year was really about forming an incident management team which is about bringing more parts of the organisations leadership together to work out what to do, to respond.

And I think that formation of a leadership team was crucial.

Voiceover: The Finalists for the 2020 NSW Health Awards in the Patient Safety First category are,

Hunter New England Local Health District, Maternity Assessment Bay, Keeping Women Safe.

Southern New South Wales Local Health District, Northern Cluster Hospital Acquired Complications Falls Project.

Northern Sydney Local Health District, Reducing Inappropriate Arterial Blood Gas Testing in a 58 Bed Quaternary Intensive Care Unit.

The winner of the Patient Safety First award is, Northern Sydney Local Health District, Reducing Inappropriate Arterial Blood Gas Testing In a 58 Bed Quaternary Intensive Care Unit.

Dr Oliver Walsh: Performing unnecessary tests is a huge problem in medicine.

We were doing over 65,000 blood gas tests in our intensive care unit each year.

Many of them without a strong indication. This was costing over $2 million annually and potentially harming our patients by contributing to anemia and the need for blood transfusion.

I'd like to thank all of the staff at Royal North Shore Intensive Care Unit. We're honoured to work with such fantastic people who strive for excellence and are motivated to adapt their practice in order to benefit their patients and the healthcare system in general.

Special thanks to Doug Chesher of NSW Health Pathology and data scientist, Helen Ganley, without whom the project would not have been the success it was.

Voiceover: The finalists for the 2020 NSW Health Awards in the People and Culture category are,

Hunter New England Local Health District, Keeping staff Safe, Reducing Needle stick Injuries.

South Western Sydney Local Health district, Occupational Therapy Student Intensity Training Program.

Sydney Local Health District, We Need a Tiger Team, A Pandemic Innovation to Care for our Staff.

The winner of the People and Culture award is, Hunter New England Local Health District, keeping staff safe, reducing needle stick injuries.

Jillian Martnelli: The solution to our concerns for the project was to introduce mandatory use of safety engineered sharps devices.

Our project has resulted in a 60% reduction in needle stick exposures.

Thank you so much. It's great to receive recognition for the initiative that we've all worked really hard on over the years.

It's so important that our health care workers can come to work with the knowledge that they are safe and that they are not exposed to a bloodborne virus during the course of their day.

This initiative goes a long way to making them feel secure and valued.

I'd like to thank also my CORE team for their marvellous implementation of the program and their ongoing support.

I'd like to also acknowledge the initial working group in 2016, who were involved in the project selection and initial formulation of the project.

I'd like to thank Elizabeth Grist who is our executive sponsor for the project and who followed my passion for providing a safe working environment for our staff and support supported me the whole way.

Also the staff health and wellbeing service who are always there to support the staff through the exposure management process and promotes sharp safety in their role every day.

Also my manager Sue Buckman who's always supported me in my endeavours.

Also to include in that support that we received was through health share in venture team.

And also Linda Bradley, who is health share product manager.

She did a lot of the work behind the scenes for us.

But also like to thank CE for Hunter New England, Michael DiRienzo, for providing the funds for this project because without that funding we would never have been able to implement this.

Voiceover: Congratulations to the winners and to all the finalists in those categories.

Now, please welcome the Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women, the Honourable Bronnie Taylor MLC.

Bronnie Taylor: Hi, I'm Bronnie Taylor and I'm really proud to be the Minister for Mental Health, Regional Youth and Women.

I'm absolutely delighted to be part of this broadcast and in particular to announce the nominees of the Excellence in the Provision of Mental Health Services Award

. In what has been a very extraordinary year, it is more important than ever to acknowledge, recognise and to celebrate the achievements of all of you, the amazing people of NSW Health.

You all work so very hard to protect and care for our community, and to make sure that our services are accessible, and provide the best experience possible when someone needs treatment and support.

While working in healthcare is extremely rewarding, I also know how tiring it can be.

As a former nurse, I know you never really switch off from work and how easy it is to carry the loads of your patients and their loved ones home with you.

For all of you, but particularly to those in our mental health workforce, I just wanted to say how much I respect and admire the role you play in supporting people through their unique challenges.

And now more than ever, your contribution is essential.

I know how hard you work to give some of our most vulnerable community members the care that they need to thrive and that this work can take a toll emotionally and mentally.

To each and every one of you, thank you for the care you give to so many, and please extend that same care to yourselves.

It may have been a while since some of us were on the airplane, but the advice still rings true.

Remember to always put on your own oxygen mask first.

The work that you will do significantly impacts the health of our community.

And it has been so great to see some of the fantastic work happening across our health system this year, as you've all adapted and come together to achieve incredible outcomes for the people of NSW.

I'd also like to acknowledge the 9,770 strong mental health workforce that is on the ground every day and tirelessly providing care to some of the most vulnerable in our community.

And now it's time to announce the Excellence in Provision of Mental Health Services finalists.

The finalists for Excellence in the Provision of Mental Health Services category in the year's NSW Health Awards exemplify the innovation and drive of everyone involved to make life better for people living with mental illness, their families and their loved ones.

The three finalists are excellent examples of the ongoing commitment to improve the care of mental health consumers across the state.

So the three finalists are, Northern Sydney Local Health District for reducing seclusion time in the Mental Health Intensive Care Unit at Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital by 42% within six months.

Their seclusion rights have been steadily decreasing and continue to be amongst the best in the state, well done.

Western NSW Local Health District for their Mental Health in the Home program which offers a virtual contemporary alternative to inpatient admissions for consumers in the Bathurst region.

Congratulations for promoting recovery and positive change.

The Far West Local Health District for their connections in the Far West service which provides out-of-hours support, reducing the number of people presenting to hospital.

This is a fantastic initiative which is really making a difference for the people of Broken Hill.

In its first year, the project resulted in savings of 354 bed days, and received really great feedback all around.

I'm delighted to introduce these projects to you and no doubt we're all very eager to learn who the winner is.

I wish all finalists and the winners the best of luck.

Every project here is worthy of an award. So congratulations to every single one of the 161 nominees, finalists and winners for the 2020 NSW Health Awards.

Thank you for your hard work and your commitment to the NSW Health system.

You should all feel very, very proud.

Voiceover: Thank you, Minister Taylor.

Without further ado, here are the remaining winners for the 2020 NSW Health Awards.

The finalists for the 2020 NSW Health Awards in the Excellence in the Provision of Mental Health Services category are,

Far West Local Health District, Connections in the Far West,

Western NSW Local Health District, Mental Health in the Home, A new approach in a pandemic,

Northern Sydney Local Health District, reducing time in seclusion in the Mental Health Intensive Care Unit.

The winner of the Excellence in the Provision of Mental Health Services award is, Northern Sydney Local Health District, reducing time in seclusion in the mental health intensive care unit.

James Wall: Seclusion is a high risk intervention, whereby the patient is at risk of both physical and psychological harm.

We wanted to target specifically the length of time our patients spent in seclusion.

We prioritise the high level of engagement and de-escalation.

We aim to re-enter the room as early as possible to engage, debrief, and formulate an exit strategy with the patient.

Thank you very much.

I'd like to thank our service director here at Hornsby, as well as the inpatient services manager who supported our project.

And most of all, the multidisciplinary team at MHICU.

Thank you.

Voiceover: The finalists for the 2020 NSW Health awards in the Transforming Patient Experience category are,

Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, finding help for multicultural, alcohol and drug use,

Northern Sydney Local Health District, Mona Vale hospital patient led handover project,

Sydney Local Health District, rpavirtual, a new way of caring.

The winner of the Transforming Patient Experience award is, Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District, finding help for multicultural, alcohol and drug use.

Dianne Woods: The aim of that is to actually build their ownership and empowerment and start some of those conversations around drug and alcohol in culturally sensitive ways.

So look, it's been great actually working under culturally and linguistically diverse local drug action team banner and being able to work with a whole range of people under that, but honestly, working with the community members on the ground, who just wanted to share their passion for everything that they did and stand up for their community and have these conversations heard, that just had to be the best experience of the whole project.

Voiceover: The finalists for the 2020 NSW Health Awards in the Collaborative Staff Member of the Year category are,

Dr. John Ferguson, Hunter New England Local Health District,

Judy Kempton Webb, NSW Health Pathology,

Rita Williams, The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network.

The winner of the Collaborative Staff Member of the Year award is,

Rita Williams, The Sydney Children's Hospitals Network.

Rita Williams: Wow, wow, wow, did I really get this award?

But this only happened because we had good attitudes, lots of communication, so they were the driving force behind me as well to get this garden done.

And the annex study, kidney health study as well.

And here today, we're still doing the gardening.

I'm not leaving this hospital until that garden's finished.

Past CEO's and past medical doctors that were involved in this research study in the first place and also not forgetting the Aboriginal Health workers.

They were the driving force too behind me, they always supported me, whatever I'd done.

Yeah, and I wouldn't go anywhere else without them.

Voiceover: The finalist for the 2020 NSW health awards in the Volunteer of the Year category are Caroline Skidmore, Southern New South Wales Local Health District,

Ricky Buchanan, Mid North Coast Local Health District,

Rupesh Udani, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District.

The winner of the Volunteer of the Year award is, Rupesh Udani, South Eastern Sydney Local Health District.

Rupesh Udani: I have worked across all over Australia in organ donation awareness message.

There was one incident I recollect very clearly.

One of the person came up to me and he told me, are you the person who going to change this world about organ donation?

I kept my silence.

I didn't want to say anything that point of time, but today I wanted to let everyone know, if we come together as a community, work as a community, we can change someone’s world.

I wanted to thank all our volunteers at NSW Organ and Tissue Donation Service, especially because they are the instrumental for giving this opportunity to work in the organ donation space.

Voiceover: And finally the finalist for the 2020 NSW Health Awards in the Secretary's Award, Integrated Value Based Care category are,

South Western Sydney Local Health District, aged care rapid assessment and investigation unit,

Western Sydney LHD, pathways to community living initiative.

The winner of the Secretary's Award, Integrated Value Based Care is South Western Sydney Local Health District,

aged care rapid assessment and investigation unit.

Dr Danielle Ni Chroinin: ARIA provide streamlined care for older patients from early targeted identification in the emergency department, through to early safe transition back to the community.

We are delighted to have won this award which recognizes not just the efforts of the ARIA team but also how streamlined integrated care built on the CORE values of collaboration, openness, respect, and empowerment can improve patient care.

Emily Cummins: We'd like to thank the ARIA team the wider geriatric team of the hospital, the general management unit and our colleagues in the emergency department with our asset, and also our hospital executive team.

Voiceover: Congratulations and thank you to all our winners for this year's 2020 NSW Health Awards.

To close out the show, please welcome back the Secretary for NSW Health, Elizabeth Koff.

Elizabeth Koff: Congratulations to all winners.

Thank you for tuning in to today's NSW Health Awards.

And a huge thank you to the nominees and the finalists, and of course, the judges that had the hardest task.

Visit the NSW Health website to find out more about the winners and their projects.

Again, congratulations to everyone in the NSW Health system and thank you for your commitment to high quality, safe and compassionate care, thank you.

​​