A GEM of an evening!

On Thursday evening the cream of the North Metropolitan Health Service (NMHS) crop headed to Harry Perkins at QEII for the inaugural GEM Awards celebration. The Going the Extra Mile (GEM) Awards provide an opportunity to celebrate and reward high achieving staff who exemplify the values of Care, Respect, Innovation, Teamwork and Integrity in their service.

NMHS Board Chair Jim McGinty was MC for the evening and an amazing 52 finalists in ten categories were recognised. The GEM Awards is set to become an annual event and provides a valuable opportunity to showcase the great work being done throughout the NMHS service and celebrate the many exceptional staff that we work alongside.

It was a special evening as we shone the light on exceptional NMHS colleagues who through their behaviours, actions and initiatives, are making our service one to be proud of. The precious GEMs of our service!

The award categories align with NMHS’s strategic priorities and recognise our ongoing commitment to delivering the best outcomes and highest levels of care for our patients and community.

Winners and honourable mentions on the night include:

CE Award

Winner:
TEAM: KEMH RMO Society | WNHS

Honourable mention:
TEAM: DonateLife WA | MHPHDS

Driving Innovation

Winner:
Stephen Baskeyfield | SCGH

Honourable mention:
Dr Benjamin Scalley | MHPHDS

Empowering and Engaging our workforce

Winner:
Stacey Fuller | SCGH

Honourable mention:
Kim Brookes | SCGH

Excellence in Clinical Care

Winner:
Lesley Barr | MHPHDS

Honourable mention:
Caroline Fletcher| SCGH

Excellence in Customer Service

Winner:
Laura Bush | MHPHDS

Honourable mentions:
Karen Barraclough and Helen Montgomery | WNHS
Jane Nutter | SCGH
TEAM BreastScreen WA Mobile Screening Unit staff | WNHS

Improving the Patient Experience

Winner:
Sandy Sadler | OPH

Honourable mention:
Emma Stephens | SCGH

Researcher of the Year

Winner:
Prof. Peter McEvoy | MHPHDS

Rising Star

Winner:
Naomi Nelson | MHPHDS

Strengthening Partnerships

Winner:
Ruth Langmead | MHPHDS

Volunteer of the Year

Winner:
TEAM: Graylands Hospital Volunteer Service | MHPHDS

The Board Award was chosen by the NMHS Board from the 10 winners of each of the categories and Stephen Baskeyfield from SCGH was the worthy recipient.

Stephen applied innovation to make a fundamental difference to the patient experience, as well as the everyday work of our staff. Food and hydration are a key part of the healing process for our patients, and implementing electronic bedside meal ordering at Charlies has made a vital difference to our patients’ experience and enabled our Dietetics, Speech and Catering Departments to enhance quality improvement initiatives to continue improving patient satisfaction.

Increasing the options of portion-controlled, allergy free, minced moist and puree meals from one option to seven has given our patients more choice, not only exemplifying our Innovation Value, but also Care and Respect. Catering and dietetic costs, both human and material, have reduced; catering staff satisfaction has increased, and the allergy identification and management risk has reduced.

Stephen always asks, “How can we do things better for our patients?” so introduced an opportunity for patients to provide direct feedback about their meals via bedside ordering, which has also empowered supervisors to act on this patient feedback and record actions for transparency. 

Thanks to NMHS sponsors Paywise (external site), Smartsalary (external site) and HESTA (external site), individual winners were presented with a $200 voucher and team winners with a $300 voucher.