I-HEART team with their award

20 November 2024

Austin Health has won two awards at last night’s 2024 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards.

Chief Executive Officer (Interim) Cameron Goodyear said that the awards recognise and acknowledge the achievements of Austin Health and its dedicated team of staff and volunteers.

“At the heart of what we do is a team of exceptional people who are dedicated to providing high-quality and compassionate care to our community across Victoria.

“These awards are underpinned by the dedication and passion of every member of the Austin Health team and I’m so proud to see this work formally recognised.”

In the partnering in healthcare category Austin Health and Swan Hill District Health won for their project I-HEART, a virtual regional heart failure service.

Heart failure is a life-threatening disease of the heart with frequent hospitalisations and low survival rates. It is one of the most common causes of hospitalisation in the elderly. The aim of this partnership between Swan Hill District Health and Austin Health was to improve access to specialist heart failure services and facilitate care closer to home. The partnership co-developed several clinical decision tools to support patients during their hospitalisation, and a virtual clinic after discharge for follow up with heart failure specialists.

This partnership has kept people out of hospital and saved lives.

The hospital disability identifier project, which Austin Health worked heavily on with hospitals in the Parkville precinct, was awarded the partnering with consumers to improve patient experience award.

The Disability Identifier electronic questionnaire was co-designed by individuals with lived experience and their carers. It provides health services a way to hear the voice of consumers with disability on admission or referral, enabling a person-centred care experience. Formal evaluation has revealed strong acceptability of the tool from consumers and clinicians. At each Parkville precinct hospital and all Austin Health sites, consumers with disability can proactively identify, ensuring care teams understand their adjustment requirements, which strengthens data for policy and clinical practice to improve outcomes for patients with disability. This work is already informing clinical practice in disability identification and care in Victoria.

Austin Health was also a finalist for our work on the Beating Buruli program, as well as the Premier’s Large Health Service of the Year Award.

Two of our volunteers, Claire Weaver and Yvonne Dunt, were also added to the Health Volunteer Honour Roll, celebrating more than 30 years of dedicated service to our organisation.

The Parkville disability identifier project team with their award

This year has been exceptional for Austin Health. In addition to more than 120,000 inpatient separations, almost 90,000 Emergency Department (ED) presentations, and close to 250,000 Specialist Clinics attendances, we are proud of a range of initiatives and achievements that create lasting improvements for patients across the state.

One of our major achievements this year is the establishment of QUEST. It’s our QUEST that every Austin Health patient receives the right care, at the right time, in the right place. In less than a year, we have made extraordinary progress establishing three key workstreams to test larger scale improvement initiatives, and tackle system level processes that impact care progression.

Alongside QUEST, other achievements include:

• Transforming incident reporting statewide to ensure 100 per cent near real-time reporting of incidents across in scope health services in Victoria.
• Our collaboration with the Heidelberg Priority Primary Care Centre (PPCC) who provides an alternative to the ED for patients who require urgent care but not an emergency response. More than 1,700 patients have been diverted to the PPCC.
• We embedded an innovative Enhanced Recovery Program (ERP) to achieve next day discharge home for patients undergoing hip or knee replacement. Through ERP, we improved length of stay from 4.4 days to 1.5 days for eligible patients, getting them home safely and sooner.
• Leading the way in developing statewide digital approaches to support waiting list audits for planned (or elective) surgery, and supporting the safe and secure transfer of patients between health services.
• The introduction of Safewards in our ED to reduce conflict and increase a sense of safety and mutual support for patients and staff.
• In a Victorian first, we embedded digital Patient Reported Measures (PRMs) into routine clinical care, facilitating shared decision making, informing quality improvement and delivering value-based care. PRMs measure outcome and experience, with data collected via simple survey from patients.
• The installation of solar panels at our three main campuses. This initiative will make a substantial impact on carbon emissions, with an expected annual reduction of 276 tonnes of CO2- equivalent to the annual carbon footprint of 17 Australian households.

Congratulations to all involved.

The Victorian Public Healthcare Awards recognise leadership and excellence in the provision of publicly funded healthcare in response to established and emerging community needs.

The award categories reflect the Victorian Government's healthcare priorities and focus on the sector's ability to drive change and improve health outcomes for all Victorians.