Thank you to our staff and partners

At the Agency for Clinical Innovation (ACI), we’ve had another successful year, bringing together clinicians, consumers and key stakeholders to drive innovations and transformation in healthcare.

Across our five directorates, we continue to:

• embed a strong evidence base in new programs
• focus on clinical engagement
• improve our cultural competency and approach to co-design with consumers
• build capability for health staff to innovate and improve service delivery through digital enablement and healthcare redesign.

We have focused on embedding a value-based approach and aligning our work to the Future Health Strategy to ensure the NSW community receives the best care, in the right place, at the right time.

For the third consecutive year, we have been resilient and responsive to the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. We’ve leveraged our agility and applied lessons learnt to consider new ways to deliver healthcare that provide value to patients, clinicians and the health system.

This year we have spent time reflecting on our organisational goals, which involved extensive consultation to develop our new strategic plan.

The strategic plan is in its final stages and sets the future direction for the ACI. Thank you to everyone who has provided input throughout this process. I look forward to sharing the plan with you in the new year.

Recognising healthcare innovation

I would like to congratulate the collaborative programs that were recognised at this year’s Premier’s Awards and the NSW Health Awards:

• Patient Reported Measures Program
• NSW Telestroke Service
• Finding your way, shared decision-making project.

It has been wonderful to see the work of our teams and partners acknowledged through these esteemed awards. The biggest reward, however, is knowing that these programs are improving healthcare and even saving lives. You can read more about the awards in our feature story.

Following the recent launch of the NSW Refugee Health Plan 2022–27, I am also pleased to share another collaborative project between the ACI and four local health districts. We have developed an online resource to guide healthcare workers and their community partners on how to establish trauma-informed and culturally safe health services for people from a refugee background.

It considers the needs of diverse community groups and draws on the experiences of healthcare staff and refugee communities from the Hunter New England, Illawarra Shoalhaven, Mid North Coast and Murrumbidgee local health districts.

Delivering healthcare to refugee communities in regional NSW reveals the key elements that contribute to a positive healthcare experience for people from refugee backgrounds, and provides case studies and practical advice on how to establish a new regional refugee health service.

This resource will be incredibly valuable as we start to see an increasing number of humanitarian entrants settling in regional NSW.

Thank you to our people and partners

I would like to thank the ACI staff from across all directorates and teams for their continued dedication and agility in helping us improve and transform healthcare in NSW. I would also like to thank the clinicians and consumers who volunteered their time to share their knowledge and expertise with the ACI so that we can support the system.

I am proud of the great collaboration across the ACI and NSW Health. I would like to acknowledge our partners at the Ministry of Health, local health districts, specialty health networks, primary care and other pillar and partner agencies for working with us to drive innovations in healthcare across NSW.

From all of us at the ACI, I would like to wish you a happy and safe holiday season with loved ones. We look forward to our continued partnerships and building on the momentum we have created as we embark on the new year.