Nine Central Adelaide LHN staff and teams have been named as finalists in the statewide SA Health Awards for 2020.
The awards highlight the people, teams, programs and projects that have significantly improved the performance of the public health sector and the delivery of health services to the South Australian community.
Congratulations to the following CALHN finalists.
Premier’s Award for Excellence in Health
Dialysis Pilot – Watto Purrunna, NALHN / CALHN
To provide a culturally appropriate wrap around service to increase informed consent and compliance with dialysis treatment, improve health literacy, and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consumers to return to their home or community for ongoing treatment. Partnering with our consumers via the AKction consumer reference group, CALHN and SAHMRI, we aim to improve access to culturally appropriate services and respond to the unique needs of our Aboriginal consumers.
Virology Serology Molecular (VSM) team – SA Pathology, Statewide Clinical Support Services, CALHN
The Virology Serology Molecular (VSM) section at SA Pathology has performed over 300,000 COVID-19 tests as at 24 August 2020. This testing has been critical to South Australia’s pandemic response and has required: sourcing swabs and reagents through precarious supply chains; development of new tests; integration of commercial assays; computing for interfaces and result reporting and training of new staff, all while maintaining a quality system. A truly Herculean effort!
Minister’s Research and Innovation Award
Registry of Senior Australians (ROSA) – Acute and Urgent Care, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, CALHN
The Registry of Senior Australians has established Australia’s first prospective registry of aged care recipients. Each older person assessed by South Australia’s Aged Care Assessment Teams (ACATs) since August 2018 have been enrolled unless opting out. We now have a more complete picture of how older people navigate the linked aged care and healthcare sectors. We are better placed to intervene and improve health outcomes for this population group.
Revision Arthroplasty Translational Research Program – Orthopaedics and Trauma, Royal Adelaide Hospital, CALHN
Joint replacement failures are increasingly common, resulting in revision surgery. Outcomes of revision surgery are poor, with many patients suffering persistent limps and a loss of implant stability, leading to further surgery. Our research has led to improved revision outcomes. In the most complex revision hip replacements treated at the RAH, postoperative limp has decreased from 80 per cent to 10 per cent and re-revision for joint loosening has decreased from 17 per cent to 0.
Design of an in-house COVID-19 Molecular Testing Platform – SA Pathology, Statewide Clinical Support Services, CALHN
Within days of the COVID-19 genome sequence being published and before it was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation, Mark Turra had designed primers for an in-house molecular testing platform. Mark’s vision and commitment to quality healthcare and continuous improvement have ensured South Australia’s ongoing ability to deliver a world-class response to the pandemic, benefiting the community and contributing to greater understanding of the disease globally.
Out of Hospital Care and Strategies
CALHN Day Rehabilitation Service, Amputee Prehabilitation Program – Rehabilitation and Neurosciences Program, The Queen Elizabeth Hospital, CALHN
CALHN’s Amputee Prehabilitation Project is improving the amputation journey for patients and has reduced the average length of stay (LOS) by half (average Prehabilitation acute LOS 11 days, compared to 33 for standard care). As a result of the project, patients have reported feeling less fear and better informed ahead of their surgery.
Mental Health Co-Responder in Emergencies (MH CORE) – Mental Health Clinical Program, CALHN / Metropolitan Emergency Operations, SAAS
Mental health co-responder in emergencies (MH CORE) sees CALHN mental health staff partner with SA Ambulance paramedics to divert mental health patients from emergency departments to community care pathways. Since January, MH CORE has supported 89 consumers to access community mental health services. MH CORE provides the right care, first time, through improved telephone advice, appropriate referral through clinical pathways, and providing more care at home, reducing the need for hospital visits.
Excellence in Non-Clinical Services
SA Pharmacy Pharmaceutical Supply Dashboard – SA Pharmacy, Statewide Clinical Support Services, CALHN
Pharmaceutical supply is a critical component of SA Health’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. To enable real time, statewide visibility of medication holdings in SA Health hospitals, SA Pharmacy developed the Pharmaceutical Supply Dashboard. The dashboard centralises inventory information relating to current stock holdings and usage patterns, allowing SA Pharmacy to proactively redistribute pharmaceuticals between hospitals to meet demand. The dashboard is monitored via the PPE and Pharmacy Governance Group.
Young Professional of the Year
Dr Stephen Bacchi – RMO – Royal Adelaide Hospital, CALHN
Stephen is a man of many talents. He is a talented medical resident, excels academically (achieving record marks for a University of Adelaide alumnus in the United States Medical Licensing Exams), teaches the next generation (designing mock exams for medical students), improves others’ joy at work (writing on wellness and resilience in medical/nursing students) and programs neural networks (using deep learning algorithms to solve hospital medicine’s most wicked problems).
Each nomination is an excellent example of the world-class talent and initiatives across the network.
Winners will be announced at a ceremony to be held on Friday, 20 November 2020.
For further details on finalists and the awards visit the SA Health website.
