BoP Health Board First DHB to Claim National Award

Friday 29 November, 2013

Bay of Plenty District Health Board First DHB to Claim National Award

The Bay Of Plenty District Health Board has become the first DHB to be recognised at New Zealand’s toughest and most prestigious performance excellence awards.

The New Zealand Business Excellence Awards is celebrating its 21st anniversary this year. Not once in those two decades has a DHB carried off an award. That changed today (Friday November 29) when the Bay of Plenty District Health Board (BOPDHB) received a bronze award for its dedication to best practice achievement.

The BOPDHB’s Chief Executive Officer, Phil Cammish, said it was a significant step in an ongoing journey.

“This award has been the culmination of a journey which started some years ago, when we took the decision that the organisation would follow a continuous quality improvement path,” he said.

“The efforts of the staff over the intervening years have led us to this success. And, whilst a great achievement in itself, it is but another step in our quality improvement journey.”

Mr Cammish said the work undertaken meant the DHB was delivering safer and higher quality healthcare for Bay of Plenty residents.

The awards were evaluated by a rigorous four-stage team-based process and scored against the internationally-recognised Baldrige scoring template, said New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation Chief Executive, Mike Watson.

“The BOPDHB has been focussed on health excellence for a number of years and are the first New Zealand DHB to enter and be recognised with an internationally-calibrated New Zealand Business Excellence Award,” said Mr Watson.

“This award acknowledges the progress they have made with the judges praising the CEO of the DHB who leads by example an organisation that cares deeply about the needs of its people and the communities it serves.”

Also presented at today’s gala luncheon - held at Coopers Function Centre, Mystery Creek, near Hamilton - were the New Zealand Business Achievement Awards.

An abridged version of the Business Excellence Awards, they are evaluated on the same rigorous basis.

The BOPDHB Clinical School’s Trials Unit - which was established in 2009 by Associate Professor Dr Peter Gilling and Research Manager Rana Reuther - received an Achievement Award.

“The application for an Achievement Award was submitted so we could benchmark ourselves against reputable and internationally-recognised criteria,” said Professor Gilling, who is Head of the BOPDHB Clinical School.

“This will help us to continually develop, by acknowledging our strengths and areas for improvement.”

The unit conducts clinical trials and health-related research projects and is largely funded by trial revenue. Funds raised support clinical research initiatives throughout the region.

“The significant increase in growth the BOPDHB Clinical School has experienced over the past four years can be attributed to the reputation of the unit’s staff and the quality of research being undertaken here,” added Professor Gilling.

ends

© Scoop Media