The district’s innovation pitch returned for the first time this year with three successful winners walking away with cheques to kick start projects.
Doctor Mathew Doane from Royal North Shore Hospital’s Department of Anaesthesia has taken out the main prize with his pitch ‘Curtailing Clinical Care’s Catastrophic Carbon Contribution’.
The project was awarded $46,000 to purchase an anaesthetic gas filtering device that captures all scavenged waste anaesthetic gas, which is then returned for recycling.
The ‘OPRAH’ project, ‘Optimising Postnatal Recovery and Health’, took out the people’s choice award and will be funded to create a postnatal physiotherapy video including simulated graphics to facilitate improved understanding and uptake of essential postnatal exercise.
The ‘Gut Microbiome in Radiotherapy’ project picked up a Chief Executive Award and funding to implement a study to inform the development and validation of a predictive clinical biomarker for radiotherapy related adverse events.
Manager Strategy and Service Integration Anna Giuffrida said since the very first innovation pitch, the winning projects have focused on and improved patient care and the latest projects continue this trend.
“It was great to be able to come together for our first pitch for 2021 and celebrate innovation in the district,” she said.
