3 March 2016

Waitemata DHB wins national award for patient experience programme

Waitemata District Health Board (DHB) has been nationally recognised for its work linking the experiences our patients to the growth of our staff and services.

The DHB won the award for Talent Development and Management at the New Zealand HR Awards for an extensive programme connecting its organisational values of everyone matters; with compassion; connected and better, best, brilliant with the experiences of staff and patients.

Waitemata DHB Chief Executive Dr Dale Bramley says the award is underpinned by an organisation-wide commitment to growth and positive change from the perspective of our patients.

“We are immensely proud of the accolade as the awards are judged across private and public sectors, making it a significant achievement for our nearly 7000 staff who have worked extremely hard to put the experiences of our patients at the forefront of their daily work,” says Dr Bramley.

Since the programme first began in 2011, the DHB has worked consistently to make understanding how our patients experience our services a priority within the organisation.

The DHB collects data from an ongoing ‘In Your Shoes’ programme gathering real-time feedback from patients and whānau in each service, capturing over 1000 responses from across the organisation each month.

The feedback is then collated in an innovative report which maps the patient feedback received to standards and behaviours. The reporting is made available to each ward and allows teams to focus their attention on specific improvements to the service they provide.

“By involving staff and patients in developing our standards, we know that by living up to them we are meeting staff and community expectations of their health service,” says Dr Bramley.

The programme allows the DHB to tailor improvements to the areas that are most important to patients and families. One example showed that staff being welcoming and friendly was most significant in patients having a positive experience. As a direct result, a campaign was commenced to become ‘the most welcoming DHB in New Zealand.’

“This award recognises that our focus on patient experience has both improved our service design and delivery and inspired staff to provide the best possible care to each and every person who walks through our doors,” says Dr Bramley.

About the award:

2016 NZ HR Awards presented by the Human Resources Institute of New Zealand.

Award for Talent Development and Management recognising the outstanding initiatives and strategies in developing and managing talent within the organisation.

Recommended for those organisations who demonstrate excellence in initiatives and strategies which support the development of talent and capability for specific employees of the organisation e.g. graduates, leadership teams, specialist areas or organisations wide e.g. values, cultural change etc.

Winner:

Waitemata DHB

Other category finalists:

Auckland Council

Beca Ltd

McDonalds Restaurants

MYOB

Plant and Food research

ENDS

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