Hon Peter Dunne
Associate Minister of Health

28 February 2017

MidCentral physiotherapist wins emerging leader award

MidCentral DHB physiotherapist Emma Lett is the second recipient of a new award for emerging health care leaders. Associate Health Minister Peter Dunne presented the award at MidCentral DHB this morning.

The Open for leadership awards are coordinated by the Health Quality & Safety Commission. They recognise and celebrate health professionals who demonstrate excellent practice, quality improvement and leadership skills. They are part of the Commission’s work to build capability and leadership in the health sector.

“Emma exemplifies leadership for many reasons, most notably for her tireless work on service accreditation within therapy services. This work now allows physiotherapists, occupational therapists and therapy assistants to issue simple equipment to patients without having to get additional sign off.

“Emma did this in a way which was easy to implement, and has resulted in great benefit for the MidCentral physio team and patients. Allowing equipment like shower stools and walking frames to be organised for delivery without going through a number of approval stages means patients are able to receive the help they need in a fast, efficient way. This is a great example of quality improvement”, says Mr Dunne.

Emma’s work is in line with the Government’s strong focus on supporting safe patient care and saving lives.

“Recent nationwide successes include a reduction in falls resulting in broken hips, a reduction in CLAB – a blood stream infection, and a reduction in some surgical site infections. All these successes owe a lot to the work of our current and emerging leaders”, Mr Dunne said.

Ms Lett was given a trophy by Minister Dunne and will be sponsored to attend a Commission event.

ends

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