The NSW Health Awards – now in their 25th year – recognise personalised, sustainable, and digitally enabled health programs that deliver outcomes that matter most to patients and invest in the wellness of the NSW community.
A group of anaesthetists from Royal North Shore Hospital were finalists in the ‘Environmental Sustainability Award’. Anaesthetists Associate Professor Matthew Doane, Dr Adam Rehak, Dr Penny Hodges, Dr Andy Lindberg, Dr Aprit Srivastava and Dr Max Benness have been actively working as part of a multifaceted program to reduce the perioperative carbon footprint at the hospital by introducing a multifaceted program. Reducing anaesthetic greenhouse gases
A highlight for the team has been implementing the significant shift away from anaesthetic gases which are high carbon emitters – such as desflurane, which has a global warming potential that is almost 2500 times greater than carbon dioxide. Desflurane usage at RNSH has gone from 30 per cent of total gas usage to less than two per cent, which is well below the NSW Health key performance indicator of four per cent. Penny and Andy are also both sustainability leads for anaesthesia and are part of NSLHD’s Australian First Net Zero Leads program, which involves educating staff, implementing practice changes, and undertaking audits. L-R: Dr Andy Lindberg, Anaesthetists Associate Professor Matthew Doane, Dr Penny Hodges, Dr Adam Rehak
No Suppression Group Paula Hanlon and the ‘No Suppression Group’ Project were finalists in the ‘Excellence in the Provision of Mental Health Services Award’ category. This award recognises and showcases work in improving the quality and safety of mental health patient care within programs and services. “I am so excited,” said Paula, Manager of Ryde Consumer Services who co-founded the group 13 years ago. No Suppression brings together people with lived experience of mental health issues to share their creativity and build social connections. They currently meet monthly at Macquarie Hospital.
“The group is about offering a safe space for people to share their creativity, whether it’s through poetry, music, art and comedy. We sometimes have joke offs — the longest joke-off we had went for 46 minutes,” said Paula.
Paula Hanlon
51 NSLHD 2023 Year in Review
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