21 August 2002
New Zealand Health Innovation Awards Announced
A new set of awards has been announced today to recognise and honour New Zealand’s most innovative health providers.
Individuals, groups and organisations working across the full range of health care including public health, accident and
emergency care, general practice, community care, primary care and rehabilitation are invited to enter the inaugural New
Zealand Health Innovation Awards.
The awards are designed to raise public awareness of the outstanding contribution that dedicated health innovators are
making to the treatment, care and recovery of New Zealanders.
Besides acknowledging and rewarding the achievements of health innovators, a key aim of the New Zealand Health
Innovation Awards is to promote the sharing of innovative products, services and processes.
The New Zealand Health Innovation Awards are the joint initiative of the Ministry of Health and ACC.
The New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation will select the winners using international criteria and evaluation
processes.
The Foundation will accept formal applications from nominees between 23 September and 25 October 2002.
There are three entry categories:
- Individual: 1-5 people
- Group: 5-20 people
- Organisation: 20 or more people.
The winner of each category will receive a certificate and a cash prize of $8,000 and will be eligible to win the
Supreme award of $15,000. A popular choice award of $5,000 will also be presented.
The winners of the New Zealand Health Innovation Awards will be announced at a special ceremony at Te Papa on 23 April
2003.
To make it as easy as possible for people to enter, the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation will invite initial
expressions of interest, briefly outlining the innovation.
An expression of interest form may be obtained directly from the Foundation and will be available online shortly at
http://www.healthinnovationawards.co.nz
The expression of interest form will ask entrants to describe the innovation and why it was needed for the client or
group it was designed for, and to explain how the innovation has had a positive effect on a health service, product or
system and/or improved patient care.
Patients, consumers and community groups as well as health providers who want to nominate someone else or some other
group or organisation for the Awards are also invited to fill out one of the expression of interest forms.
The innovation may be an advance in technology systems or in new processes, products or services which improve patient
care or rehabilitation
From the original pool of entrants, an independent team of evaluators will then select finalists who will be invited to
submit a more detailed application.
The team of evaluators and an independent panel of judges will then assess the final application forms. They may decide
to make site visits to help them scrutinise the entries.
The evaluators will look for innovations that show evidence of being:
- Researched and analysed to determine feasibility
- Effectively led
- Well planned and implemented
- Able to be managed effectively
- Evaluated and improved to meet stakeholder needs
- Successful and sustainable
No innovation is too big or too small to be eligible for entry in the inaugural New Zealand Health Innovation Awards.
For more information, contact the New Zealand Health Innovation Awards
Co-ordinator at the New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation on 09 270 5164, fax 09 270 5163, or email:
info@nzbef.org.nz The Foundation’s web site is located at http://www.nzbef.org.nz
Media Contacts:
Peter Abernethy Fraser Folster
Communications Manager Media Advisor
Ministry of Health ACC
DDI 04 496 2008 DDI 04 918 4119
MOB 0274 477 036 MOB 025 947 795