The innovative spirit of the Gold Coast Health workforce was on display at last week’s The Improvers, with 18 great ideas featured for improving patient care.
The judging panel, led by Minister for Health and Minister for Ambulance Services Steven Miles, decided on these winners:
Category 1 (valued between $50,000 and $250,000 per annum requiring recurrent funding):
Establish an interdisciplinary clinic for children and adolescents with significant functional impairment: Penny Larcombe, Brooke Mitchell (Paediatrics)
Category 2 (up to $100,000):
Navigation software to target early lung cancer lesions: Maninder Singh, Shaun Kang, Thomas Goregues, Nicola Bobeldyk, Lisa Olsen (Respiratory)
Category 3 (up to $50,000):
Scale existing 3D printing denture manufacturing to full production: Simon Ashworth (Oral health)
Category 4 (up to $25,000):
Install a model car to practice transferring in and out: Ali Longmire, Stephen Addison (Physiotherapy, Robina rehabilitation)
Staff voted on the runners-up from categories 3 and 4, choosing as their People's Choice winner:
Partner with Stanford University to run a project in the GCUH ED in support of automated diagnosis of chest x-rays: Kristof Boot, Katya May, Amy Sweeney, Maame Owusu, Nimai Etheridge, Adam Brand (Research and ED). The Minister also invited this team to present their idea in front of an expert panel at the Queensland Health Innovation Hub in Fortitude Valley.
Mr Miles also announced $10,000 towards an idea from Category 4, to establish a hearing access service for inpatients.
Gold Coast Health and the Gold Coast Hospital Foundation will co-fund a second idea from Category 2, to create a calm and reassuring environment for people with responsive behaviours.