NSW Health WSLHD Safety & Quality Account 2020-21

A workplace culture that drives safety and quality

2021 Quality Award Winners

Each year WSLHD hosts the Quality Awards to celebrate staff and services who are committed to improving the patient care and health outcomes. The awards are an opportunity to showcase the innovative projects designed by staff that benefit our patients, families, staff and our community. Submissions are aligned to one of seven categories that mirror the NSW Health Innovation awards plus two peak awards chosen by the Chief Executive Graeme Loy and the WSLHD Board Chair Richard Alcock. Selected projects can be entered at a state and national level for further recognition.

2021 Quality Award Winners

Transforming Patient Experience - “Dialysis free time” through incremental peritoneal dialysis. Since June 2019, 95.2% of new patients that started incremental peritoneal dialysis (PD) within Western Renal Services (WRS) and have been screened and offered a new model of care. Minimising discomfort and reducing stress associated with ongoing treatment is a goal for improving the experience of patients receiving dialysis in WSLHD. Eligible patients that have been prescribed PD treatment for increased ‘dialysis- free time’ means less intrusiveness for patients and improved healthcare cost of savings. Understanding that dialysis treatment takes a proportion of time every day, this project has improved shared decision making between patients and treating teams. This project has been rolled out across Blacktown, Mount Druitt and Westmead hospitals has saved patients up to two hours and 15 minutes per day on procedure time.

Delivering Integrated Health Care - COVID-19 care in the community Built on existing partnerships of the integrated chronic care program, this service provides care for low- to-moderate risk COVID-19 positive patients whilst they recover in their home. This project focused on building capacity in clinical teams and innovating new pathways for COVID-19 patients to access high-quality care in their home rather than hospital. GPs, pharmacists, medical and nursing staff were heavily utilised to provide care to over 400 patients through this model. A COVID-19 patient experience survey demonstrated an average of 91% satisfaction rate for this service with 72% stating they felt supported at home and did not need a hospital and 86% felt as though they were treated with kindness and respect. This program has since been expanded and branded as the inTouch model.

Patient Safety First – “I hear you”

49 Integrated Chronic Care Program (ICCP) together with COVID-19 drive- through clinic staff were educated in health literacy and teach-back techniques to help improve the communication of information to consumers. The two-hour education program included simulation and theory-based education on how to effectively communicate in plain language, using evidence-based health literacy techniques. Clinician confidence and the ability to re-explain information as required rose from 70% pre-training to 100% post-training, achieving an overall result of 100% competency within 6 months of running the program.

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