The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) has won a top public healthcare award for pioneering a home fingerprick blood test for children undergoing warfarin therapy.
The RCH was presented On Wednesday night with a Better Health Award for Excellence in Healthcare Outcomes through Person-Centred Care for its Power to Parents, taking child warfarin therapy monitoring home program.
The award was presented by Minister for Health David Davis at the 2011 Victorian Public Healthcare Awards in Melbourne.
The Better Health Awards honour initiatives and services that demonstrate excellence, innovation and quality.
Mr Davis said the Excellence in Healthcare Outcomes through Person-Centred Care Award recognised improvements that resulted in better engagement and involvement of patients in their own care.
“This Royal Children’s Hospital program demonstrates how health services are innovating to provide services that are people and family centered, safe and evidence based,” Mr Davis said.
The RCH provides warfarin management to more than 130 children. Warfarin is an anticoagulant and children being treated with this drug require regular blood tests and monitoring.
“Since 2001, RCH has offered its pioneering point-of-care fingerprick tests to reduce the trauma associated with frequent blood tests, although regular visits to the hospital were still required” Mr Davis said.
“Prior to this program, blood tests were performed by collecting blood via a needle from a vein, which is technically difficult and can be very painful and traumatic for children.
“Since 2003, RCH pioneered a home self-testing program to equip patients and families to safely and reliably perform tests at home, significantly reducing the burden of hospital visits.
“Parents were taught to perform the blood test, in the form of a finger prick, understand the reading and report directly through to the hospital,” Mr Davis said.
“It is important to honour those healthcare leaders that are providing new ideas and approaches to ensure our health system is sustainable and responsive to the needs of Victorians,” Mr Davis said.
“As our population grows and ages – and as our health needs change and become increasingly complex – we also need to change our health services to ensure a focus on individual need and contemporary evidence-based practice.”