2012 Canterbury DHB Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards

The Canterbury DHB Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards are back!

The Awards recognise and reward the excellent quality improvement and innovation initiatives, both large and small, taking place throughout the Canterbury Health System, and encourage the development of a workplace culture that embraces and supports these important activities.

Accept the challenge of becoming involved as an Applicant, Mentor, or Assessor!

Download the 2012 Awards Poster to advertise the Awards in your workplace.

Interested in entering your project?

Entering the Awards is an exciting opportunity to share ideas and learning, gain recognition for your project, and celebrate the achievements of your project team. The entry process allows you to produce a journal-style summary of your project with the guidance of an experienced Mentor, and further develop your knowledge of project management and quality improvement principles. This year the written submission will be shorter and augmented by site visits during the assessment process.

Download 2012 Entrant Materials here.

Key dates for Entrants:

Monday 27^th February Entrant Materials available

Monday 30^th April Expressions of Interest due (form included in Entrant Materials)

Friday 27^th July Project Submissions due

Monday 12^th November Awards Ceremony

Interested in being a Mentor?

Mentors play the important role of providing support for project teams during the application process. It is essential that Mentors have experience in project facilitation and an in-depth understanding of the Awards process through past involvement as an Applicant, Mentor, or Assessor.

Key dates for Mentors:

Monday 5^th March Mentor Recruitment and Workshops begin

1^st March – 27^th July Mentoring takes place

Interested in being an Assessor?

Assessors read and evaluate a selection of project submissions and undertake site visits. Assessors also have experience in project facilitation and the ability to evaluate the written submission against set criteria.

Key dates for Assessors:

Monday 7^th May Assessor Recruitment begins

Monday 16^th July Assessor Workshops begin

30^th July – 12^th October Assessment process underway

Download 2012 Entrant Materials here.

If you have any questions about the Awards programme, please browse Frequently Asked Questions below or contact Emma Kenagy, Project Facilitator, Corporate Quality & Risk by email or by telephone on (03) 337 7741 or internal extension 66741.

Frequently asked questions:

How long have the Awards been running?
Why should I enter?
Who is eligible to enter?
What if I have entered the awards before?
How do I enter into the awards?
Who can help me with my application?
How can I become a Mentor and provide support to project teams?
How is my project assessed?
Who judges my entry?
How can I become an Assessor?
What are the prizes?
Details about the Award Ceremony
Requirements for the Award Ceremony
Will there be feedback on my entry?
Continuous improvement of the awards programme
Canterbury DHB Quality Improvement and Innovation Award Programme Objectives
More Information

How long have the Awards been running?
The Canterbury DHB Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards were first introduced in 2003 and to date 144 projects have been entered. Please click here to learn more about the history of the awards programme and to view previous years projects.

Why should I enter?
There are several reasons to enter into the Canterbury DHB Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards:

Publicity/heightened profile/exposure of project
We endeavour to get as much exposure as possible for the entrants. This is achieved through the profiling that occurs once the awards close. Organisation or service awareness is also gained through the assessment process, all Assessors becoming aware of the projects and the Judges will also read all the projects. All projects are profiled at the ceremony. A few projects have also been presented to the Canterbury DHB Board and some have been profiled on radio and in the newspaper and journal articles.

Recognition of Entry
All entrants are invited to the Canterbury DHB Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards Ceremony and each project receives a Certificate of Entry and selected projects are awarded prizes.

Retention and Sharing of Knowledge
One of the aims of the Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards Programme is to facilitate the flow, retention and sharing of knowledge within the Canterbury DHB. Increasingly knowledge is being recognised as the most strategically important resource and learning the most strategically important capability for business. Previous projects are loaded onto the Corporate Quality and Risk Intranet/Internet sites and a Project Summary Booklet which contains abstracts from all the projects is produced and circulated at the awards ceremony. This will enable people to get in touch with entrants about their project work as well as enable entrants to contact others. The awards programme is aimed at helping to ensure that peoples knowledge is not hoarded, peoples capability is not neglected and there is no need to “reinvent the wheel”. The retention and sharing of knowledge will help build networks and highlight the fantastic work that is taking place within the Canterbury DHB.

Entry into External Award Programmes
Following the Canterbury DHB Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards, projects are encouraged to enter other external award programmes.

Who is eligible to enter?
Entry into the Canterbury DHB Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards is governed by the following criteria:

The Awards are open to all providers whose services are funded by the Canterbury DHB and all Canterbury DHB staff.

Projects entered into the awards programme must be current. If the project is no longer active, then it must have only been concluded within the 18 months prior to the closing date for entries or the impact/embedding of the quality improvement or innovation must have been reviewed within the 18 months prior to the closing date for submission.

If you have any queries regarding the eligibility of your project entering the awards programme, please contact Emma Kenagy.

What if I have entered the awards before?
We encourage people who have entered projects in previous years awards programmes to enter the programme again; either a new project or a project entered into a previous programme where there has been further work or review and additional evidence and results obtained.

How do I enter into the awards?
Download the 2012 Entrant Materials for more information about how to enter the Awards.

Who can help me with my application?
A Mentor will be assigned to each team to assist with completion of the submission. Applicants are also encouraged to:

Gain assistance from divisional Quality Teams and Planning and Funding Contract Managers,

Review previous project submissions which are loaded onto the Corporate Quality and Risk intranet site.

How can I become a Mentor and provide support to project teams?
If you have been involved in the Awards before as a Applicant, Mentor or Assessor, you may be eligible to become a Mentor in 2012. More information relating to Mentor recruitment will be made available in the first week of March.

How is my project assessed?
In general, the Assessors will look for evidence that the project:

was effectively led
was well researched and analysed to determine feasibility
had clear objectives that were Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-framed
was well planned/approached and effectively implemented
was effectively monitored against milestones
had strong, sustainable results aligned to the vision and objectives of the project
had an overall systematic approach

This year, site visits will be undertaken by Assessors to augment the information contained in the written submission. Two Assessors will visit each project team to discuss the project, site supporting documentation and undertake observation if appropriate.

Who judges my entry?
Once the panel of Assessors have agreed on their scores the marks are presented to the Judging Panel (the Chief Executive, the Chief Medical Officer, the Chief Finance Officer and the Executive Director of Nursing). The Judges receive all the entries prior to this meeting and their role is to review the scores and assessment and confirm the award recipients.

How can I become an Assessor?
More information relating to Assessor recruitment will be available in early May.

What are the prizes?
The prize structure for the past awards (still to be confirmed for 2012) is as follows:

Overall Winner: Trophy and a $5000 professional development fund

Category Winners: $3000 professional development fund

Category Runner-up: $2000 professional development fund

Highly Commended: Shield and $100 per project

The ‘Highly Commended’ award is not specific to a category and is designed to encourage and recognise effort. The winner(s) of this award will receive a shield and $100 which is to be spent on celebrating the award.

Please note that $100 of the category awarded prize money is to be spent on celebrating the award with the remaining funds being allocated to professional development and/or education. Previous entrants have used prize money to fund the cost of conference registration, travel and accommodation, text books, data projectors (to be used for in-house training/education sessions) and course fees etc. Recipients of the prize money will be asked to indicate the intended use of the money by the end of the financial year.

Details about the Award Ceremony
The Awards Ceremony will take place on Monday, 12th November 2012.

All of the entrants in the awards programme will be invited to celebrate their success and hard work at an Awards Ceremony. Short video profiles of each project will be played. The Award recipients will be announced at the Ceremony and any winning teams may be invited to give a short response when receiving their award.

Requirements for the Award Ceremony

Project Video Profile
During the Assessment Phase of the awards programme the Corporate Quality and Risk tem will liaise with the Project Contact Person and the Medical Illustration Department to compile 1-2 minutes of footage (video and/or still images) to profile the project at the awards ceremony. Entrants are encouraged to keep this in mind as one off events (e.g. education sessions) that underpin some projects may provide an opportunity to capture the project in action.

Cover Slide for Video Profile
Entrants are requested to complete a cover slide for the Project Video Profile. A template and examples of previous slides will be circulated prior to the Awards Ceremony to the Project Contact Person for completion.

Will there be feedback on my entry?
Following the Ceremony, Assessor feedback reports are circulated to each Project Contact Person. The feedback report identifies strengths of the application and suggests any opportunities for improvement which may be considered before entering into external awards and provides guidance for future quality improvement and innovation project work.

Continuous improvement of the awards programme
Each year there have been enhancements and changes to the Canterbury DHB Quality Improvement and Innovation Awards following feedback from entrants, Mentors, Assessors and other Quality networks.

Canterbury DHB Quality Improvement and Innovation Award Programme Objectives
The Canterbury DHB Quality Improvement and Innovation Award Programme Objectives are:

To encourage staff to participate in project work
To reward staff for participating in project work
To publicly acknowledge staff for participating in project work
To recognise the achievement of improvements and innovations that are taking place within the Canterbury DHB
To promote a standardised and systematic approach to projects, innovation and improvement activities
To capture, share and retain the knowledge and learning throughout the Canterbury DHB
To encourage projects to be embedded and sustained within the organisation
To provide a mechanism for channelling project from the Canterbury DHB into external award programmes
To encourage celebration of innovation and quality improvement
To gain personal and professional development and learn new skills (e.g. from entering the awards and learning about project management techniques

More Information
For further information, please contact Emma Kenagy, Project Facilitator, Canterbury DHB
Phone: (03) 337 7741 or internal 66741 Email: emma.kenagy@cdhb.govt.nz