Trophies were awarded as follows:
Equipment Idea of the Year
Winner: John McAuley – Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
Innovation: Portable knee blocker for use in occupational therapy
Description: Traditionally occupational therapy patients with a left or right weakness have been using a standing frame or a rise and fall table with a knee block extension to help support them when in a standing position. Unfortunately such large apparatus takes up a lot of floor space.
This innovation is compact and can be used in limited space by hospital or community teams working in the patient’s home. It reduces the number of therapists required to handle a patient, reduces moving and handling risks.
Judges Comments
In this case the judges highlighted the labour and consequent cost or efficiency savings that could be achieved through use of such a simple device. In particular the device has potential not just in a clinical setting but in the community, with a portable version to be used by therapists.
Diagnostics and Pharmaceutical Idea of the Year
Winner: Dr Derek Fairely – Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
Innovation: Meningitis Diagnostic.
Description: A novel molecular diagnostic for Nisseria meningitidis, the major worldwide cause of bacterial meningitis and septicaemia. Meningitis is a disease with rapid onset but ambiguous early symptoms. Diagnosis is traditionally confirmed by culture, often taking 36 hours, but this technique uses ‘loop-mediated isothermal amplification’ (LAMP) to provide a rapid – less than one hour - diagnosis of meningitis from blood, cerebrospinal fluid or swabs.
Judges Comments
The judges noted that this entry is concerned with overcoming a diagnostic crisis for doctors and saving lives. It is the most commercially protectable entry, with patent protection already underway, and is therefore likely to be implemented as a product and reach service delivery. It has substantial value within and beyond the Health and Social Care service.
Information and Communication Technologies Idea of the Year
Winner: Stephen Wallace - Southern Health and Social Care Trust
Innovation: Bespoke SHSCT system for cleanliness reporting
Description: This concept focuses on hospital cleanliness and describes a system known as E-Dashboards, which is an information collation and presentation system for infection prevention information in a hospital setting. The application gathers key information streams and presents them in a clear concise format that is available in a timely manner to all healthcare staff.
Benefits include the ability daily to measure and compare the performance of departments and facilities, streamlined communication.
Judges Comments
The judges noted that this entry has the potential to impact on one of the biggest areas of public concern - hospital cleanliness and the incidence of healthcare acquired infection. The system of E-Dashboards in the Southern Trust collects timely information about cleanliness compliance so that corrective action can be taken. Judges also liked the way the system helps staff to take ownership of cleanliness and how relative performance can be measured across wards or sites, so that interventions can be focussed efficiently.
Innovative Idea of the Year - Belfast Health and Social Care Trust
Winner: Dr Derek Fairely
Innovation: Meningitis Diagnostic
Description: A novel molecular diagnostic for Nisseria meningitidis, the major worldwide cause of bacterial meningitis and septicaemia. Meningitis is a disease with rapid onset but ambiguous early symptoms. Diagnosis is traditionally confirmed by culture, often taking 36 hours, but this technique uses ‘loop-mediated isothermal amplification’ (LAMP) to provide a rapid – less than one hour - diagnosis of meningitis from blood, cerebrospinal fluid or swabs.
Judges Comments
The judges noted that this entry is concerned with overcoming a diagnostic crisis for doctors and saving lives. It is the most commercially protectable entry, with patent protection already underway, and is therefore likely to be implemented as a product and reach service delivery. It has substantial value within and beyond the Health and Social Care service.
Innovative Idea of the Year - Northern Health and Social Care Trust
Winner: Patrick Maguire
Innovation: Intermediate care KPI scorecard for separate teams
Description: This idea concerns the management of eleven separate Intermediate Care teams in the Northern Trust, amalgamated from three legacy trusts. Performance management data was previously collected manually, which was time-consuming, unreliable and made analysis difficult. A Key Performance Indicator Scorecard has been developed to take monthly data from the teams and measure performance against key indicators. The system also provides charts to track progress over time and display consolidated management data.
Judges Comments
The judges liked the way that the system helps with performance reporting, gathering data from separate teams to establish reliable metrics and allowing the service to establish the savings enabled by interventions.
Innovative Idea of the Year - South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust
Winner: Rosemary Bird
Innovation: Provision of healthy snacks in hospitals
Description: When the hospital canteen is closed members of staff have access to vending machines selling fizzy drinks and chocolate, but there is nowhere to get a healthy snack. This idea sets out to redress the imbalance by providing fruit and healthy snacks in vending machines in hospitals, outside canteens, outside wards and in A&E waiting rooms, for the benefit of staff, patients and relatives. Machines would be looked after by catering staff, costs paid by consumers and any profits returned to the service. Benefits include improved health and morale, time savings and potentially some revenue return.
Judges Comments
The judges noted that vending machines for fresh produce are in wide use, particularly in industry, and that availability of sugary and salty snacks alone does not appear to be in line with the messages promoted by the Health and Social Care service. Although current vending machines are owned by commercial providers and a change in business model with the trusts may be necessary, the judges commend this concept.
Innovative Idea of the Year - Southern Health and Social Care Trust
Winner: Stephen Wallace
Innovation: Bespoke SHSCT system for cleanliness reporting
Description: This concept focuses on hospital cleanliness and describes a system known as E-Dashboards, which is an information collation and presentation system for infection prevention information in a hospital setting. The application gathers key information streams and presents them in a clear concise format that is available in a timely manner to all healthcare staff.
Benefits include the ability daily to measure and compare the performance of departments and facilities, streamlined communication.
Judges Comments
The judges noted that this entry has the potential to impact on one of the biggest areas of public concern - hospital cleanliness and the incidence of healthcare acquired infection. The system of E-Dashboards in the Southern Trust collects timely information about cleanliness compliance so that corrective action can be taken. Judges also liked the way the system helps staff to take ownership of cleanliness and how relative performance can be measured across wards or sites, so that interventions can be focussed efficiently.
Innovative Idea of the Year - Western Health and Social Care Trust
Winner: Dr Philip Gardiner
Innovation: Glove and sock tools to gather data on stiffness and movement.
Description: This entry is about the measurement of movement in the human hand, using a multi-disciplinary team. The team is developing a prototype system using a glove that will measure the speed and range of movement and track the loss or improvement in that motion over time. Improved data on digit movement will support clinical interventions in arthritis. Additionally the prototype provides visualisation of the recorded movement to assist the clinician.
Judges Comments
The judges noted how this entry has the potential to improve measures of limb-digit function, using off the shelf apparatus, although some work will be required to define the clinical utility.
Commendation
Winner: Gillian McMullan, Patient and Client Council
Innovation: Accessibility improvements to PCC reports and materials.
Description: This entry from the Patient and Client Council concern’s the council’s core business – communication with patients, clients, service users, carers and the public. The council has developed communications templates to support learning disabled individuals in their engagement with the council. Documents such as agendas, minutes of meetings and schedules of meetings have been adjusted to include a range of non-verbal visual aids. Aids include images of calendars and clocks, as well as photographs of meeting locations, for example. The new format has achieved a significant progression in ensuring individuals with a learning disability are equally supported in meetings of the council and the Bamford Monitoring Group. Materials and meetings have become more accessible.
Judges Comments
The judges noted that this apparently simple improvement in communication has improved engagement with key stakeholders and that similar approaches could provide benefits in other areas of service delivery also.