Dave is officially Excellent

Picture the scene: last Wednesday evening, the events centre under the cupola of the Auckland Museum.  360º views over the city and Waitemata Harbour. Wine, canapés, expectant groups of guests seated at round tables.  A hush falls as the presenter fumbles with a envelope: 'And the winner of the award for Clinical Excellence is……. David Semple and team!'  And the crowd went wild!!

It's not quite the Oscars, but it's close! 

Very impressive - but why does Dave get three chunks of glass?

As to why Dave has been singled out for such praise, it's all to do with a project he set up and ran to reduce the length of time that some of his patients have to wait for a procedure that that is part of dialysis.  In the bad old days, 70% of patients were waiting more than 180 days.  Since team Semple got on the case, only 26% of patients wait that long.  Result: healthier patients and reduced costs to the health system.  You can read more about the project here and there is also a video interview with Dave and the team here.