A&NZ Bupa Awards Nominees 2017

NOMINEES | A TRUE CUSTOMER CHAMPION IN HEALTH AND CARE
NOMINEES | A TRUE CUSTOMER CHAMPION IN HEALTH AND CARE
Health Experience
Judith Ngai
Ornella Care
Emma Green
Francesca Meijer
mummatters
With over 300,000 births in Australia each year, it may
come as a surprise that as many as one in every ten
women experiences depression during pregnancy, and
one in seven experience it postnatally.
Research supported by the Bupa Health Foundation
found that over 50% of cases of perinatal (during and
after pregnancy) depression are missed in primary
healthcare settings if there is no routine screen in place.
Women in the private sector are also less likely to be
screened during pregnancy.
In response to this, the Health Experience team created
a digital tool, mummatters, to support women who are
pregnant or recently had a baby (up to one year after
birth) to help reduce the impact of perinatal depression
on them, their children and families.
To date half of the users have either been found to have
symptoms or risk factors of depression. Some evidence
shows that the tool is helping change behaviour, with
36% of category one users (the highest risk category,
who report current symptoms of depression) reporting
they visited a health professional due to prompting by
mummatters. More than two thirds of respondents of a
voluntary feedback survey say they would recommend
mummatters to a pregnant friend.
Health Insurance
Christine Pollicino
Donna Shotton
Rachael Droy
Palliative Care program
According to the Grattan Institute, in the next 25 years
the number of Australians who die each year will
double. In Australia 70 per cent of people want to die
at home, yet only about 14 per cent do so. Considering
how best to improve end-of-life care to give people
dignity, respect and choice is extremely important.
The Health & Benefits management team set out to
ensure the delivery of quality, specialist palliative care
services that better meet Bupa’s customers’ expressed
preference of care pathway and location of treatment
delivery. This sustains meaningful quality of life and
supports family and carers.
Commencing in August 2016, Bupa and St Vincent’s
Private Hospital Brisbane initiated a two-year pilot
program called the Bupa Palliative Care Choices
program to deliver an innovative model of homebased
palliative care that improves end-of-life care
and offers greater choice.
The program aims to improve access to highlyspecialised
and comprehensive palliative care services
so people can die at home, if that is their choice. This
program represents a Queensland first where the
private sector has collaborated to deliver this model of
home-based palliative care.
18
19