Significant progress in the Bay Navigator working groups have developed the following pathways – Cardiology
(Adult Heart Murmur, Atrial Fibrillation, Chest Pain, Palpitations, Suspected Cardiac Syncope, Suspected Heart
Failure); Paediatrics (Childhood Asthma, Childhood Eczema, Childhood Gastroenteritis, Childhood OME,
Childhood Skin Sepsis, Childhood UTI, Management of Type 2 Diabetes); Respiratory (COPD, Smoking
Cessation); Gastrointestinal (Direct Access for Laparoscopic Cholecystectomy, Suspected Bowel Malignancy);
Medicine (Diabetes, Transient Ischaemic Attack, Stroke, Hepatitis C screening and management, Renal);
Health in Aging (HIA); (Dementia, Falls Prevention); Orthopaedics (Orthopaedic major joints) and Palliative
Care.
Innovation Awards are how we celebrate the creativity that our staff and providers show in developing and
implementing an initiative to improve the way we work and the service we give to our patients. Twenty eight
entries were received and seven entries were selected to be presented to guests at the awards evening.
The first prize winner WorkWell, developed by the DHB’s Toi Te Ora Public Health Unit, is the first
comprehensive workplace wellness accreditation scheme to be offered free to workplaces in New Zealand.
Already 10 per cent of the Lakes and Bay of Plenty workforce (11,500 employees) are registered with the
programme.
The other finalists were the Brainwave Singers, Radial access innovation, portable write-up table, making real
changes in managing Behavioural and Psychological Symptoms of Dementia ( BPSD), truck drivers health and
education ‘pit-stop’, sensory modulation and mental health.
A youth-lead mural project, while not a finalist in the awards remains very visible on the Tauranga Hospital site
as it is a large jigsaw shaped mural designed, painted and installed by clients and staff of the Child and
Adolescent Mental Health Specialist Service.
We will soon be calling for applications for the Bay of Plenty DHB Clinical School Medical Research Awards.
The awards provide an opportunity for employees and contractors to showcase research undertaken within
the past two years. The research may be quantitative or qualitative and includes all branches of health
including public health, health services, basic, applied and clinical research, or health-related technology
research.
The awards recognise the outstanding contribution of researchers to improve the quality of care and health
outcomes for our patients and the Clinical School encourages all health professionals who are engaged in
research projects to consider submitting an application.
A Clinical Trials Unit is also based in the Clinical School and is responsible for coordinating our research
activities and undertakes DHB-wide pharmaceutical trials, medical device trials and research projects.
The Unit is self-funding and operates through an independent charitable research trust.
Currently we are participating in clinical trials in the areas of Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT), Oncology,
Respiratory, Infectious Diseases and Immunology.
The research team has increased due to the number of trials we have managed to secure, with six Research
Nurses, a Research Manager and an Administrator.
Head of School, Dr Peter Gilling, provides guidance and support for the team. He has significant published
research experience including as a Principal Investigator in both national and international trials, both
pharmaceutical and medical device related.
Further work is being done to set up an electronic database to help manage Bay of Plenty DHB research and
we are currently working with Waikato DHB to share ideas for a Midlands approach.
Our website www.bopdhb.govt.nz has undergone a redesign and rewrite. Websites have fast become one of
the most efficient and effective ways of sharing information particularly with patients and people looking for
recruitment in our DHB. Twenty four, seven availability and easy access to information for people with English
as a second language are also important drivers for change.
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