National award for Tauranga nurse

Health Quality & Safety Commission general manager Karen Orsborn presenting Tauranga Hospital Registered Nurse Leigh Youngman with the national Open for Leadership award on Wednesday. Supplied Photo.

A Tauranga Hospital nurse who developed an initiative that improves patients' quality of care has picked up a national award for emerging leaders.

Registered Nurse Leigh Youngman was presented with the Health Quality & Safety Commission's Open for Leadership award for her patient-focussed initiative during a small ceremony recently.

Leigh's initiative, which she developed while completing Honours Degree in Nursing, allows patients with fractured ankles, who meet specific criteria, to return home while they wait for their operation, rather than spend that time in hospital.

'Because I work in orthopaedics I wanted to do something specific to that. One of the areas I saw for improvement was allowing patients to go home prior to surgery,” she explains.

'Those with ankle fractures usually spend five to seven days in a ward because their swelling means they have to wait to be operated on. I talked to patients who were in the ward while I was developing this, and a large majority said they'd prefer to be at home.”

The criteria for returning home pre-surgery includes patients living close to the hospital, having support people at home, having a physio assessment which shows they can be mobile and use crutches, and having the ability to manage their pain with medication.

Leigh says news of the award came as a surprise.

'I didn't actually know I'd been nominated, so I felt totally privileged when I found out. I was a little bit shocked but I'm absolutely stoked.”

Leigh was presented with her trophy from HQSC general manager Karen Orsborn last Wednesday In front of an audience including her mum and stepdad, Bay of Plenty District Health Board chair Sally Webb and BOPDHB chief executive Helen Mason.

'We feel extremely lucky to have Leigh on our team. The impact she is having on improving services for our community is admirable,” says Helen.

'It was lovely to hear Leigh acknowledge the support she has received from her team in achieving this award. We are continuously looking for ways to improve services, and it's great to have the opportunity to celebrate that today.”

You may also like....

1 comment

Congratulations leigh

Posted on 10-05-2017 09:44 | By Papamoaner

We are all proud of you. Nurses are underpaid and sometimes under-appreciated. Nursing is a job requiring special people with special skills. High five!


Leave a Comment


You must be logged in to make a comment.