ACHS’s 22nd Quality Improvement Award Winners Announced

The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards

ACHS’s 22ndQuality Improvement Award Winners Announced

Two Sydney hospitals and an ACT hospital were the final winners in the annual ACHS Quality Improvement (QI) Awards announced in Sydney last night.

Calvary Public Hospital Bruce in partnership with Capital Health Network, Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in partnership with Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Medical Physics Team and the Royal North Shore Hospital, each took out an award, demonstrating their leadership status as innovators in different aspects of healthcare.

ACHS CEO Dr Karen Luxford presented the awards in three categories – Clinical Excellence and Patient Safety, Non-Clinical Service Delivery and Healthcare Measurement. A fourth, new category – ‘Global Quality Improvement Winner’ was won by the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, Northern Territory.

Calvary Public Hospital Bruce in partnership with Capital Health Network won the Clinical Excellence and Patient Safety Award for their ‘Trialling a Geriatric Rapid Acute Care Service in the ACT’.

The Non-Clinical Service Delivery Award was won by Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in partnership with Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Medical Physics Team for their ‘Collaboration and Development of an Innovative Total Body Irradiation (TBI) Bed for the Best Patient Care’.

Royal North Shore Hospital, took out the Healthcare Measurement Award for their ‘Reducing Inappropriate Arterial Blood Gas Testing in a Quaternary Intensive Care Unit’.

The National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre based in Darwin won the new Global Quality Improvement Award. This award recognises projects that are using Australian healthcare standards to strengthen quality improvement frameworks internationally.

Dr Luxford said the breadth of entries this year demonstrated the strong value attached to developing patient safety and quality projects in healthcare. “The judges were very impressed with the quality of entries and the amount of innovation employed,” she said.

“Each of the winners has created a substantial improvement in health by implementing a quality improvement activity within the last two years which demonstrates measurable results that benefits patients or staff.”

“ACHS is delighted to host these awards to recognise the effort going into delivering innovate and effective solutions in complex environments that will make a noticeable difference for patients,” she said. The QI Awards 2019 were presented at the Stamford Plaza Airport, Mascot, Sydney.

/Public Release.