HealthPathways Darling Downs and the Darling Downs Health team and scooped three e-awards at the eHealthExpo in Brisbane in June. The event, which recognises achievements that are advancing healthcare through digital innovation, brings together clinicians, healthcare professionals, IT experts, vendors, start-ups, and researchers.
Deliver Results category winner
In the Deliver Results Category of the awards, HealthPathways Darling Downs took the prize ahead of two other finalists for developing “a web-based, virtual health neighbourhood aimed at fostering collaboration between hospitals and community services, spanning both public and private systems; and primary healthcare services.”
The entry, which was submitted by the Executive Project Sponsors for HealthPathways Darling Downs, showed the team what leadership and teamwork could achieve in a short time, says Tess Wootton, Clinical Redesign and Innovation Manager for Darling Downs Health.
The Darling Downs HealthPathways project has been developed in conjunction with the Darling Downs West Moreton PHN. When Tess took up the role as Project Director for the HealthPathways Darling Downs initiative in late October/early November 2018, the Darling Downs HealthPathways site had approximately 52 live pathways.
“Our project team consisted of a clinical director, senior clinical editor, five clinical editors, a coordinator, a project support officer, an admin officer and a project manager. Once everyone came together and focused on the same goal, we achieved an incredible amount in a short time, says Tess.
“The target was 250 live pathways by the end of June 2019, and in fact by that time, we actually achieved 304. Essentially, we managed 250 pages in eight months. It was very uplifting for the team. We followed it on with a planning day, which essentially was also team building,” she says.
Tess says attending the eHealthExpo itself was also worthwhile.
“It was useful for us to see what others are doing to improve process in the sector, and what’s available for the future, technology-wise.”
eAward of the Year winner and Collaborate and Connect category winner
Another Darling Downs team, Goondiwindi Hospital, also won the overall eAward of the Year and Collaborate and Connect Award for their work developing the Advance Care Yarning App.
The app assists Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to develop their own End of Life (EOL) care resource, providing a culturally sensitive way to have open discussions about end of life wishes and palliative care.
Teamwork brings results
Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN Chief Executive Officer Merrilyn Strohfeldt congratulated Darling Downs Health for their success at this year’s awards.
“A lot of time, passion and expertise has gone into developing the Darling Downs HealthPathways portal which will enable clinicians in the Darling Downs region to deliver better integrated care for their patients,” Ms Strohfeldt said.
“Taking out the Deliver Results category speaks to the incredible work that has been done by the team and we are really proud to be a driving partner for the HealthPathways project.”
There were more than 40 nominations for this year’s awards, with Darling Downs Health winning two out of the three categories, as well as the overall award.
Accepting their eAwards are Darling Downs Health staff members:
(from left) Rodney Nesbitt, Michelle Cleary, Tess Wootton, Dr Daniel Halliday (front, kneeling), Sally Norton, Lorraine McMurtrie, Denise Pambid of Darling Downs and West Moreton PHN, and Karen Johnson with judge Rupert Lee from the Australian Digital Health Agency.
The winning HealthPathways team
The winning Goondiwindi team