Lakes DHB annual awards announced

Winners for this year's Lakes DHB Stolwyk Clinical Scholarships, Quality and Staff Awards have been announced.

The awards were held on Monday at the Rotorua Hospital atrium with a range of winners across a number of categories announced.

The awards recognise outstanding achievement and commitment to excellence, quality improvement and patient centred care across the Lakes district.

Among the winners, Lakes DHB Paediatrician Dr Danny De Lore won the Ross Bohm Clinical Quality Initiative Award for a Senior Medical Officer.

Mr De Lore contributed greatly to a number of initiatives in recent years, including initiating or supervising and presenting the results of audits by paediatric senior house officers.

Mr De Lore also held weekly te reo lessons for paediatric staff to encourage the use of Maori language and helping with pronunciation.

Lakes DHB House Officer Dr Kate Rea won the staff award for a resident medical officer.
Ms Rea was described as an outstanding trainee displaying exceptional professional conduct with an empathetic communication style with patients, whanau and staff.

There were two categories in the quality section of the awards, one for a Lakes DHB project and one for a Lakes district community project.

Rotorua Area Primary Health Services took out the community quality award with the Newborn project designed to establish an enrolment process for newborn.

Venous Thromboembolision prevention nurse Lesley Everest was recognised on behalf of the project team for the quality award.

Venous Thromboembolision prevention in patients is internationally recognised as a major opportunity to improve patient safety.

The award for a health practitioner who has consistently gone beyond the call of duty went to Plaster Technician Michael Bray.

He was commended for delivering great services that met the Lakes DHB values.

There was a strong line up of nominations for the administration staff award with management accountant support Phyllis Mihaka and NASC's Carleen Dayha both named winners.

The non-clinical support award went to Smokefree co-ordinator Yvonne Rogers for her passion and commitment to her role.

Three Stolwyk clinical education scholarships were also awarded this year for Lakes DHB staff members undertaking post graduate study.

The 2014 winners were physiotherapists Carol Turner and Annie Yohannan and staff nurse Seema Kurian.

The two-yearly Quality Awards were established in 2008 to raise awareness of health initiatives in the Lakes district, and showcase continuous quality.

The awards have since evolved to include staff awards for excellence and post graduate scholarships.