iNNOVATIONS GRANTED The district’s innovation pitch returned for the first time this year with three successful winners walking away with cheques to kick start projects. Doctor Mathew Doane from Royal North Shore Hospital’s Department of Anaesthesia has taken out the main prize with his pitch ‘Curtailing Clinical Care’s Catastrophic Carbon Contribution’. The project was awarded $46,000 to purchase an anaesthetic gas filtering device that captures all scavenged waste anaesthetic gas, which is then returned for recycling. The ‘OPRAH’ project, ‘Optimising Postnatal Recovery and Health’, took out the people’s choice award and will be funded to create
Pitch winner Dr Mathew Doane with NSLHD CE Deb Willcox
The ‘Gut Microbiome in Radiotherapy’ project picked up a Chief Executive Award and funding to implement a study to inform the development and validation of a predictive clinical biomarker for radiotherapy related adverse events. Manager Strategy and Service Integration Anna Giuffrida said since the very first innovation pitch, the winning projects have focused on and improved patient care and the latest projects continue this trend. “It was great to be able to the social stigma surrounding mental health. “This time last year everything was so unknown with COVID - communicating and checking in with each other has really helped our team manage the challenges of the last year”, he said. Executive Assistant to the Director of Finance Todd Backhouse said: “Mental health affects everything you do – giving people the space to say they are fatigued, stressed, or overworked has really helped our team. “I’m not a runner, exercise is always the first thing to go out of my busy schedule, so this challenge has been really good to make sure I exercise and listen to self-help and comedy podcasts. “It has really helped my own mental health.” As an experienced runner, John has been loving the
come together for our first pitch for 2021 and celebrate innovation in the district,” she said. “The three projects awarded funding bring very different motivations – from sustainability to a research study and video for outpatients. “It’s fantastic to see the
a postnatal physiotherapy video including simulated graphics to facilitate improved understanding and uptake of essential postnatal exercise. different innovations staff are coming up with to improve patient care.” Applications are now open for the July pitch event. Apply now here https://bit. ly/3uVQhhi. finance team making a difference for mental health
The Northern Sydney Local Health District Finance and Corporate Services team has taken up the NORTH Foundation’s Conquer Kokoda From Home challenge. Six teams, made up of over 35 staff, have committed to walking or running 96 kilometres over 16 days to support mental health services across the district. In the first five days they raised over $4000. Director PPP Contract Administration John Barnard- Richardson said it’s really important to continue to lift
challenge, particularly working together as a team. “It’s created a real buzz around the office and brought out people’s competitive sides,” he said. “I challenge the rest of the district to put together teams and try to beat the finance team in total distance run and funds raised.” There’s still time to sign up your team to the virtual challenge here - https:// conquer-kokoda-from- home-2021.raisely.com/.
Staff taking part in the Conquer Kokda From Home challenge
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