The Chris O’Brien Lifehouse Pharmacy Team are the Winners of the 2024 APHA Award for Excellence

Opioid management program wins top award!

An innovative program aimed at improving opioid management in a busy cancer hospital has won the APHA Award for Excellence in the ‘Clinical excellence: Quality of care and patient outcomes’ category.

Chris O’Brien Lifehouse’s Opioid Stewardship Program has won the prestigious award that recognises hospital programs making a measurable difference to improve patient health outcomes.

Introduced to the hospital in 2020 in response to recognition of the potential risks of opioids, particularly in the post-surgical phase, the program aimed to reduce unnecessary or inappropriate opioid prescribing and mitigate adverse events.

The program incorporates a multidisciplinary team made up of the director of the acute pain service, acute pain nurse specialist and opioid stewardship pharmacist. The approach focused on patient-centred prescribing, involving patients in decision making and optimising communication between surgical and pain teams. The team also integrated dispensary data with surgical cases to better understand opioid use in the hospital.

In only a few years of operation the program has seen a sustained reduction in both the size and formulation of opioids supplied at discharge, despite the number of surgeries almost doubling. It also resulted in cultural and organisational change in the approach to opioid prescribing.

Judges said the project ‘focused on improved delivery of pharmacy services using a patient-centred model’ and involved consumers ‘at every point in the process’ leading to a winning score.

Australian Private Hospitals Association (APHA) CEO Michael Roff, who presented the award at a gala dinner last night, said the program stood out among a strong field of finalists.

“There has been a lot of concern in the community and in medical practice about opioids being inappropriately prescribed and it presents a particularly difficult issue for a cancer hospital, where pain management is an essential part of treatment.

“However, this program not only gives patients a voice about their medications, but also continues to upskill clinicians and provide information to them about their prescribing to improve what they are offering their patients.

“It’s a great example of multidisciplinary team working with a focus on continuing quality improvement with their patients as the focus – and it’s seen great results for all involved.”

Mr Roff said the Awards for Excellence provide an opportunity for hospitals to share innovation and improvements.

“APHA is thrilled to recognise the fabulous work the private hospital sector does bringing new and impactful programs into their hospitals to benefit their patients. The Australian community knows private hospitals provide high quality care, but the award winners go above and beyond that already high standard. These awards are just one small way we can thank hospitals for the work they do every day,” he said.