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Harry Collins Award
Background
The new Harry Collins Award has been launched with the 2009 Annual NSW Health Awards to commemorate the outstanding commitment and passionate contribution of Mr Henry (Harry) Collins towards improving healthcare and patient safety within NSW.
Mr Collins had a strong social conscience and in retirement, became an advocate on many social issues. Harry had a very genuine interest in people and believed in taking responsibility, being actively involved in decision making processes and trying to make a difference.
Harry came to the attention of the NSW Office on Ageing in the late 1980s when he facilitated the Premier's Forums on Ageing, and was subsequently awarded the Commonwealth Recognition Award as Outstanding Senior Citizen in 1999. Mr Collins was the Chair of the Consumer and Community Council, and Bankstown Hospital community representative. In 2002 he was awarded the Centenary Medal and in 2003, voted the Bankstown Citizen of the Year.
In 2004 Harry received an OAM for services to the community through a range of advisory, health and social support committees in key areas such as men’s health, cancer services and ageing.
It is, however, for his work in the area of Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) that this Award has been created. Harry was the first community representative on the Infection Control Advisory Committee of Sydney South West Area Health Service.
From 2002 to 2005 he was the Community Representative to the Australian Health Care Associated Infections Advisory Committee – a sub committee of the Australian Council for Safety and Quality in Healthcare.
Harry Collins made a particularly outstanding contribution to the “Clean Hands Saves Lives” Campaign prior to his death in November 2007.
His dedication in bringing the community’s perspective to the prevention of healthcare associated infections is greatly appreciated by both patients and staff of the NSW health system, and NSW Health is proud to recognise these achievements.
Aims
The Harry Collins Award recognises the achievements of teams working with patients, other staff or the community towards reducing or preventing Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs). Submissions may cover one or more aspect of improving control of HAIs including, but not restricted to: clinical practice; education and training; recruitment and retention of infection control workforce; research.
Award and other recognition
The Winner and other Finalists will be announced at the 2009 NSW Health Awards ceremony at the Australian Technology Park (ATP), Redfern, on Friday 30 October 2009. All Finalist teams will be invited to attend.
The Winner and other Finalists will be invited to make presentations at the 2009 NSW Health Expo, also to be held at the ATP on 30 October 2009.
An award of up to $5,000 will be made by Quality and Safety Branch to the Health Service Clinical Governance Unit to contribute towards the implementation or dissemination of HAI prevention innovations or strategies identified in the entry.
Funds awarded would be issued subject to approval by Quality and Safety Branch of specific purposes proposed by the winning team in consultation with the Health Service Director of Clinical Governance.
Funds would be administered through the relevant Health Service, which would be required to provide a statement confirming approved expenditures within the agreed timeframe.
Download the complete NOTICE (PDF 46KB)
Finalists for this award
Alcohol handrub on the foot of the bed: a simple solution - South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service
Poorly practised hand hygiene by healthcare workers has long been recognised as the major cause of hospital-acquired infections. Perceived barriers to adherence include time taken to clean hands and difficulty accessing hand cleansers. Recognising relatively high rates of serious infections at our hospital, we reasoned that simply placing alcohol handrub where it was needed – on the end of the patient’s bed – would increase usage and reduce the rate of Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infections (SABs). Without additional education, alcohol handrub usage rates more than doubled in a year and the SAB rate almost halved, likely saving six lives. Making handrub usage and infection rate data routinely available to staff at networked hospitals led to a rapid uptake of the initiative elsewhere.
Standardised case review of staphylococcal bacteraemias - South Eastern Sydney Illawarra Area Health Service
To reduce healthcare-associated Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (bacteraemia; HCA-SAB) rates, we have launched an innovative program that ensures every SAB occurring across nine networked hospitals undergoes an immediate, standardised, and detailed process of case review. Our initiative is founded on the advantages unlocked through restructuring our infection control service into an integrated team comprising nurses, doctors and administrative support. Very quickly we have identified preventable factors that particularly relate to intravenous device management. This unexpected early outcome has focussed attention on a multidisciplinary approach to changing practices that ensure earlier removal of IV lines, better documentation and aftercare. Our surveillance systems are well developed to monitor changes in HCA-SAB rates and the program is readily adaptable to other hospital settings.
Unlocking improvement – Redesigning Hand Hygiene Practice - Sydney West Area Health Service
SWAHS recognised the value in monitoring staff compliance with hand hygiene practice as one of the effective strategies to drive awareness and improvement in hand hygiene in order to reduce the rate of healthcare associated infections.
The focus on this was increased in 2008 by implementing a requirement for all clinical units to regularly audit staff’s compliance with hand hygiene. In order to support the collation and timely feedback of the information generated, an online tool was developed. The system was designed and implemented by a collaborative of Clinical Governance, Infection Control and the Area Web Team. Since going live in February 2009 a sustained improvement in staff hand hygiene compliance has been evidenced.
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