Issue No. 2 - December 2013

Bay of Plenty District Health Board First DHB to Claim

National Business Excellence Award

The Bay Of Plenty District Health Board (BOPDHB) has become the first DHB to be recognised at New Zealand’s toughest and most prestigious business performance awards.

The New Zealand Business Excellence Awards celebrated its 21st anniversary this year and not once in those two decades had a DHB won an award. That changed when the BOPDHB received a Bronze Award for its dedication to best practice achievement.

At the same awards ceremony, at Mystery Creek near Hamilton on November 29th, 2013, the BOPDHB Clinical School’s Trials Unit was recognised with a New Zealand Business Achievement Award.

CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE: (Left to right) NZBEF CEO Mike Watson, BOPDHB Communications Advisor James Fuller, BOPDHB Health Excellence Coordinator Susie Buchanan-Welch, BOPDHB General Manager Property Services Jeff Hodson, BOPDHB Quality & Patient Safety Manager Debbie Brown, BOPDHB General Manager Governance & Quality Gail Bingham, NZBEF Chairman Neil Whittaker, BOPDHB Decision Support Manager Trevor Richardson, BOPDHB Nurse Leader Clinical Support Paediatrics/ED Maurice Chamberlain, and BOPDHB Acting Chief Operating Officer Helen Mason.

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For BOPDHB CEO Phil Cammish the attainment of a New Zealand Business Excellence Bronze Award was a significant step in an ongoing journey.

“This award has been the culmination of a journey which started some years ago, when we took the decision that the organisation would follow a continuous quality improvement path,” he said.

“The award recognises the advances our staff have made in pursuing that path through the health excellence programme. Whilst a great achievement in itself, it is but another step in our quality improvement journey.”

Mr Cammish said the work undertaken meant the DHB was delivering safer and higher quality healthcare for Bay of Plenty residents. He congratulated those who had made it possible.

The awards were evaluated by a rigorous four-month, 500-hour assessment process and scored against the internationally-recognised Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence template.

New Zealand Business Excellence Foundation (NZBEF) CEO Mike Watson said the achievement was a reflection of the DHB’s leadership.

“The BOPDHB has been focussed on health excellence for a number of years,” he said. “This award acknowledges the progress they have made, with the judges praising the DHB’s CEO who leads by example an organisation that cares deeply about the needs of its people and the communities it serves.”

PRIDE: BOPDHB General Manager Governance and Quality Gail Bingham accepts the Bronze Award on behalf of the DHB.

BOPDHB Wins Business ExcellenceBronze Award

BOPDHB CEO Phil Cammish

The BOPDHB Clinical School’s Trials Unit was also recognised at the awards ceremony with a New Zealand Business Achievement Award.

An abridged version of the Business Excellence Awards, Achievement Awards are evaluated on a similarly rigorous basis.

The Trials Unit, established in 2009 by Associate Professor Dr Peter Gilling and Research Manager Rana Reuther, has witnessed significant growth over the last four years.

“The application for an Achievement Award was submitted so we could benchmark ourselves against reputable and internationally-recognised criteria,” said Professor Gilling, who is Head of the Clinical School.

“This will help us to continually develop, by acknowledging our strengths and areas for improvement.”

The unit conducts clinical trials and health-related research projects and is largely funded by trials revenue. Funds raised support clinical research initiatives throughout the Bay of Plenty.

NZBEF CEO Mike Watson said, whilst assessed against an abridged version of the Business Excellence framework, a NZ Business Achievement Award still represented a major achievement.

“To receive a NZ Business Achievement Award you must score around 500 points against the abridged best practice framework, something that only five other NZ organisations have achieved in the six years that this award has been running,” he said.

ACHIEVEMENT: (Left to right) NZBEF CEO Mike Watson with BOPDHB Clinical School Head Associate Professor Dr Peter Gilling, BOPDHB Clinical School Research Manager Rana Reuther and NZBEF Chairman Neil Whittaker.

BOPDHB Clinical School’s Trials Unit Recognised with NZ Business Achievement Award

What is the Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence?

• Developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce in response to growing competitiveness in the global market place in 1987.

• Established for identifying and recognising role model organisations in order to disseminate and share examples of best practice.

• Built upon a set of core values and concepts across seven categories: leadership, strategic planning, customer focus, measurement analysis & knowledge management, workforce focus, operations focus, and results.

• It is recognised in over 70 countries.

How are the NZBEF awards assessed?

• The NZBEF award evaluation process takes over four months with each applicant subjected to more than 500 hours of assessment by national evaluator teams.

• An extensive feedback report is provided to each applicant upon completion.

• Applicants are evaluated within the seven criteria areas and awarded points out of 1000.

Gold Award: 650 + points

Silver Award: 500 + points

Bronze Award: 400 + points

• The average New Zealand organisation scores around 230 points.

• Predicted benefits of participation include: improvement in workforce culture, enhanced customer experience, creation of organisational alignment and integration.

NZBEF CEO Mike Watson said the awards represented organisational intent for excellence.

“The Baldrige Criteria is the only internationally-calibrated, organisation-wide business excellence framework available anywhere in the world,” he said.

“These awards represent an aspiration to world class levels of performance.

“They are the toughest and most rigorously assessed awards in the country. There are over 300 business awards in New Zealand and none of them are tested against such tough criteria. That being the case, winning bronze, silver or gold brings enormous prestige with it.”

NZBEF CEO Mike Watson

www.bopdhb.govt.nz