Cardiothoracic team at University Hospital Galway win HSE Excellence Award for innovation to improve healthcare

The Cardiothoracic team at University Hospital Galway have won a HSE Excellence Award for their project ‘Minimally Invasive Vessel Harvesting for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts’ in the Innovation in Service Delivery Category on 28th November 2024.

The awards are an opportunity to showcase and celebrate examples of the great work that happens every day across our health service. They aim to encourage and inspire health service staff to develop and improve care and services for patients.

Describing the project Dr Sadiq Siddiqui, Associate Specialist in Cardiothoracic Surgery at University Hospital Galway said, “Part of our job is to perform coronary artery bypass surgery which requires harvesting veins and radial artery to perform this surgery.

“Traditionally those arteries and veins were harvested via a long incision which are associated with pain, wound infection, debilitating scars and delayed mobility

“For the last eight years we have been harvesting the radial artery and long saphenous vein via a 2cm incision and this technique has shown that the wound infection rate has reduced from 7% to 0%, while also maintaining excellent clinical outcomes and improving patient satisfaction from the cosmesis of their wound and the avoidance of post-operative complications.”

Speaking about her experience, Patient Bernadette Benagh said, “I am so honoured and privileged to be able to tell you about my experience.  It was a wonderful, wonderful experience from the day I started until the day I finished and the way I am now is because of these people who saved my life.”

Welcoming the news, Hospital Manager Chris Kane said, “This technique is another enhancement in cardiac surgery resulting in better patient outcomes.

“We are enormously proud of the team and the recognition they have received by winning an HSE Excellence Award; it is well-deserved.” 

Bernard Gloster, HSE CEO, commending the winners, said, “These awards create the opportunity to show innovation and creativity, which ultimately improves the services that we provide. Well done and thank you to all those short-listed as well as the winners. It is your work that helps pave the way to a brighter future for Ireland’s health service.”

Anne Marie Hoey, HSE Chief People Officer, highlighting the positive outcomes achieved, said, “As well as providing an opportunity to recognise the great work of staff and teams across our wide range of services, the Excellence Awards is an important channel to share learnings with our colleagues across the health service.

“Through this pooling of knowledge and expertise, the projects inspire a sense of staff pride, teamwork and collaboration. This will positively impact the overall environment for our staff whilst improving outcomes for the people who rely on our care and support.”

Learn more about the project here: https://youtu.be/y3mbXY_uqVc

Photo caption:
Cardiothoracic 1: From left, Sharon Umeh, Staff Nurse; Sharon Collins, Clinical Nurse Manager 1; Emer Lambe, Staff Nurse; Dr Sadiq Siddiqui, Associate Specialist in Cardiothoracic Surgery; Patient Bernadette Benagh; Annie Flaherty, Health Care Assistant and Niamh McDermott, Clinical Nurse Manager 2.