Congratulations to our District’s winners and finalists.

Sydney Local Health District has two NSW Health Award Winners for 2023.   

Naamuru Parent and Baby Unit has won the Excellence in the Provision of Mental Health Services Award, recognising work improving mental health patient care quality and safety within programs and services. 

Dr Sylvia Lim-Gibson, Unit Director, says the win is amazing and is thankful for the support from Dr Teresa Anderson AM, the District’s Chief Executive.   

“What is more amazing is that it’s not just an acknowledgement of hard work, because we all work hard in NSW Health, it’s an acknowledgement of the innovation and collaboration of all our partners across the District and the leadership of our Chief Executive, as this has been such a passion project for her,” Dr Lim-Gibson said.  

Naamuru was the first public mental health unit in the state that offers parent-baby admissions for parents experiencing acute mental health illness during the perinatal period. 

Dr Andrew McDonald, District Mental Health Services Director, says the win means the District is on the right path. 

“It’s a brand new service and I can’t underestimate how complex this service is,” he said. 

“It means a real recognition of a team that’s come together from working in a range of services, none with experience in a parent and baby unit because we didn’t have one in NSW.’ 

The RPA Centre for Organ Assessment, Repair and Optimisation, under the RPA Transplant Institute, has also jointly won the Health Research Award, recognising the full scale of research available in our health system and demonstrating outstanding achievements. 

Associate Professor Carlo Pulitano, Institute Research Lead, is grateful for the win and thanked the team who worked to improve the success of liver transplantation for patients with end-stage liver disease and liver tumours. 

“Our lab is developing new technologies to preserve and modify organs before transplantation,” he said.  

“Our team has demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of splitting whole livers into left and right lobes during normothermic ex-vivo perfusion and the two partial livers perfused concurrently.  

“In this concept, a liver can be divided into two lobes, and, after reaching a sufficient size, it can be transplanted into two recipients.”  

The team has increased the possibility of success and better health outcomes for patients with the development of a machine that detoxifies and sustains the liver by autoregulating multiple physiological functions. 

Dr Bethan Richards, RPA Hospital Staff Specialist Rheumatologist and Australia’s first Chief Medical Wellness Officer was a finalist for Staff Member of the Year Award and the District’s Behavioural Escalation Support Team was a finalist for the Transforming Patient Experience Award. 

The awards ceremony was held on October 24 and recognised personalised, sustainable, and digitally enabled health programs that deliver outcomes that matter most to patients and invest in the wellness of the NSW community. ​ 

Congratulations to our winners and finalists.