2023 Excellence in Person Centred Care – Team Award

TeleChemotherapy Nurses WA Country Health Service

The Western Australia Country Health Service Telechemotherapy team allows cancer patients to remain living in remote and rural areas of WA whilst receiving treatment. The Telechemotherapy model enables nurses to provide treatments at local health services with telehealth support from specialist clinicians in metropolitan areas.  

These highly skilled nurses deliver comprehensive, high-quality cancer care in places where no service previously existed. The service is driven by a deep desire to centre care around the patient addressing the health inequities faced by rural and remote Western Australians. When patients’ needs surpass the service’s existing scope, nurses have upskilled to enable the service to provide the necessary treatment allowing the patient to remain close to home.  

Telechemotherapy plays a significant role in delivering culturally safe care for Aboriginal people facing cancer diagnoses, enabling them to access treatment whilst maintaining a physical connection to culture, family and Country. This has been lifesaving for patients unable to spend extended periods of time away from Country   Since this nursing-led innovation began in 2018, more than 330 patients have received over 2000 Telechemotherapy treatments saving more than one million kilometres in travel. 

Perth Children’s Hospital Diabetes Nurse Educator Team

The team of Nurse Educators at Perth Children Hospital’s Diabetes Unit is responsible for guiding families through the challenging experience of learning a child’s diabetes diagnosis. Well known for their perpetual positivity the team are passionate about equipping their young patients with the knowledge and confidence to live full and healthy lives.

The Nurse Educators are a clinically skilled collaborative and cohesive team who support each other. The team are highly specialised practitioners committed to lifelong learning and unafraid to have difficult discussions or advocate for their patients. Through a combination of education, empowerment, and clinical expertise the team love helping transform a family’s initial fear and anxiety at diagnosis into resilience and hope.

Several of the nurses have diabetes, or a family member with diabetes, making them uniquely positioned to provide empathy and support.  Whether it be simplifying complex concepts, providing reassurance in moments of stress, demonstrating vital survival skills, or providing words of encouragement the team is there for children and their families throughout their entire diabetes journey. They do not see the patient as a diagnosis but as a whole person whose condition will not stop them living the life they deserve or being who they aspire to be.

Women and Newborn Health Service Diabetes Team, King Edward Memorial Hospital, North Metropolitan Health Service

From pre-conception to the postnatal period and everything in between, the midwives and nurses of King Edward Memorial Hospital’s Diabetes Service care for over 1400 women annually. Whether gestational or pre-existing diabetes, the Service’s nurses and midwives lead and coordinate the multidisciplinary team to provide appropriate care for these complex cases.  

The Diabetes team is the point of call when patients require adjustments in insulin, have concerns about foetal movements, have forgotten their next appointment date or need reassured they are doing a fantastic job managing the challenges they face. Ever proactive and adaptable the team accept any opportunity to catch clients as they attend other routine antenatal appointments to provide education, review results or offer necessary expertise.  

The team is passionate about ensuring all women have access to care running evening clinics for busy mothers, going the extra mile to lessen the burdens of women in crisis, and providing telehealth appointments allowing remote and regional women access to care without travelling. Renowned among their colleagues as friendly and approachable, the nurses and midwives of the Diabetes Service are generous with their time, knowledge, and expertise, and they are driven by the satisfaction shared when their patients’ hard work to manage their diabetes ends with a safe birth and healthy baby.