'Parents indicated strong support for a "one stop" reporting process; this was perceived to be essential to re-establish public confidence.'
Ministerial Review into the Public Health Response into the Adverse Events to the Seasonal Influenza Vaccine
'The advantages and necessity of the WAVSS are clear GPs recognise and welcome an efficient, streamlined and proven reporting system. Our practice is trialling a new system we send an SMS to every immunised patient asking if they had a reaction after their vaccine; this allows us to report all significant adverse events to the Department of Health.'
Dr Alan Leeb, Illawarra Medical Centre
WA Health Awards 2012
» WA Health Awards 2012 finalists
» This year’s categories and sponsors
» The Awards process
» Previous winners
Vaccine Safety Surveillance System wins the Director General’s Award for 2012
Director General Kim Snowball has selected the WA Health-developed, Australia-first WA Vaccine Safety Surveillance System (WAVSS) to receive the top honour in this year’s WA Health Awards.
WAVSS (also the winner of Category 9 – Innovation in Safety and Quality) is a direct response to the events of April 2012 when the national free vaccination program for children aged <5 years was suspended following an increased incidence of adverse events following immunisation (AEFIs). Most reports of these adverse events occurred in WA due to the higher uptake of vaccination in this state.
WA Health acted incisively on recommendations from the subsequent Ministerial Review (July 2010) into the public health response to these adverse events. One of these recommendations called for a stronger reporting system to enable timely, web-based reporting of AEFIs, leading to prompt clinical follow-up where indicated.
The reporting system development team consisted of staff from the Prevention and Control Program of the Communicable Disease Control Directorate, Public Health and Clinical Services Division, and the Health Information Network. During the development and testing phase, the team engaged with parents of children who had experienced a serious febrile reaction. These consumers gave valuable feedback about the functionality of the system as it evolved.
WAVSS was launched in March 2011. Since then it has received over 350 reports of suspected AEFIs from health providers and the public. These reports are transmitted to the Communicable Disease Control Directorate and forwarded to the Therapeutic Goods Administration on a daily basis.
A quality assurance survey conducted a year later showed that around 80 per cent of health providers and the public found WAVSS ‘easy’ or ‘very easy’ to use.
The WAVSS project team
Congratulations to the members of the WAVSS project team:
Prevention and Control Program, Communicable Disease Control Directorate: Dr Paul Effler, Dr Dale Carcione, Megan Scully, Dr Debbie Turner, Dr Donna Mak, Kamala McDonell
Child and Adolescent Health Services: Ben Gordon, Jo Daly, Dr Peter Richmond, Dr Chris Blyth
Health Information Network: Kevin Marsh, Jeff Ewen, John Paul
Peter Baldwin Memorial trophy for Excellence in Human Resources
Winner: Jon Frame
Jon has recently retired after serving in a role for nine years in WA Health, after a long and distinguished senior HR role with Police. He was most recently the ED of Workforce at North Metro.
Jon has many attributes of an excellent HR professional, with experience and endeavour, but Dr Russell-Weisz, as Jon's Chief Executive for six years, identified his major attributes as his balanced approach in stressful or complex situations, but moreover his wisdom and guidance to the executive team and other staff, especially in working through difficult decisions was exemplary.
He also is acknowledged by his senior management colleagues as being calm, methodical, with great attention to detail and showing strong leadership. And, above all, he was a great colleague, who always had integrity and a sense of humour.
The category winners are:
Category 1 Excellence in Developing Partnerships
Sponsor: University of Western Australia School of Population Health
Winner: Aboriginal Maternity Services Support Unit, King Edward Memorial Hospital, North Metropolitan Health Service
Project: Collaborative Partnerships to Close the Gap in Indigenous Early Childhood Development
Category 2 Excellence in Health Promotion and Early Intervention
Winner: Mental Health Strategy and Leadership Unit and the South Metropolitan Mental Health Advisory Group (SuMMAt) of the South Metropolitan Health Service in partnership with Community Mental Health, St John of God Murdoch Hospital
Project: Music to Open Your Mind
Category 3 – Innovation in Resourcing and Workplace Environment
Winner: North Metropolitan Health Service
Project: The Procurement of the Midland Health Campus a Successful Interagency Collaboration
Category 4 Excellence in Primary Health Care and Care in the Community
Winner: Hedland Health Campus, WA Country Health Service – Pilbara
Project: Contraception Clinic for Port Hedland Women
Category 5 Excellence in Service Delivery
Sponsor: Curtin University Faculty of Health Sciences
Winner: South Metropolitan Public Health Unit, South Metropolitan Health Service
Project: Moorditj Koort (Aboriginal Health and Wellness Centre)
Category 6 Improvement in the Patient Journey
Winner: WA Country Health Service – Kimberley in partnership with the Northern Territory Department of Health, Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance NT, Northern Territory Medicare Local, Aboriginal Health Services Council South Australia, Morra Worra Worra Fitzroy Crossing
Project: My eHealth record
Category 7 – Excellence in Partnering with Consumers and Carers
Sponsor: Medibank Health Solutions
Winner: Wheatbelt Aboriginal Health Service, WA Country Health Service Wheatbelt
Project: The Boodjari Yorga Program
Category 8 Partnering for Better Outcomes in Aboriginal Health
Winner: North Metropolitan Health Service and South Metropolitan Health Service
Project: Moorditj Djena
Category 9 Innovation in Safety and Quality
Sponsor: Performance Activity and Quality Division
Category winner and recipient of the Director General's Award for 2012: Prevention and Control Program of the Communicable Disease Control Directorate, Public Health and Clinical Services Division, in partnership with the Child and Adolescent Health Service and Health Information Network
Project: The Western Australian Vaccine Safety Surveillance (WAVSS) system
Category 10 Innovation in Performance
Winner: Prevention and Control Communicable Disease Control Directorate, Public Health and Clinical Services Division
Project: State-Wide Web-Based System for Ordering Government-Funded Vaccines
Category 11 Excellence in Clinical Training
Sponsor: Health Workforce Australia/WA Clinical Training Network
Local Community Initiative
Winner: Armadale Health Service and Bentley Health Service of the South Metropolitan Health Service; in partnership with the School of Psychology and Speech Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, Curtin University
Project: Gosnells Community Speech Pathology Clinic
Statewide Initiative
Winner: Nursing and Midwifery Office, Public Health and Clinical Services Division in partnership with Central Institute of Technology and the following metropolitan health sites: Royal Perth Hospital and Fremantle Hospital and Health Service, South Metropolitan Health Service; and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, North Metropolitan Health Service
Project: Assistant in Nursing Traineeship