Louise Oriti, Executive Director
R U OK? Day
R U OK? Day was yesterday, and it was great to see the initiatives being put on by staff to come together and begin conversations about mental health.
Most of us will be impacted by mental health either directly or indirectly in our lifetime. That is why R U OK? Day is an important reminder that checking in on each other can be a simple question and that a conversation can change a life. This year’s theme for R U OK? Day was ‘Here to hear’, exploring how we can actively listen and check-in on the people around us. It also reminds us that it is important to check-in on ourselves before we begin asking those around us.
What Matters to You
We will be launching the ‘What Matters to You’ initiative here at RBWH on Monday, 18 September at 10.30am in the Level 1 Atrium. The aim of this campaign is to ask patients about what matters to them, so we can understand their personal goals of care, rather than just the clinical goals. By having a fuller picture of a patient’s life, we can provide better care. I will be hosting a special Brief the Boss for consumers at 11.30am-12.30pm in the Level 1 Atrium; please encourage your patients to come and share their thoughts, experiences and feedback with me.
Herston Health Symposium
I would like to extend my deep thanks to everyone who participated in this year’s Herston Health Precinct Symposium. There were many speakers who presented high-impact research that offered immense insights into improving patient care and creating better health outcomes. These lectures and sessions pertinently highlighted how health intersects with other issues, such as access, research and experiences in childhood. I encourage you to watch the sessions, if you were unable to attend, once they became available on the Herston Health Symposium website.
Have Your Say Survey
Have Your Say reports are now available and have recently been provided to the leadership teams of our directorates and facilities for distribution down through the service line leaders. For work units with 5 or more responses, you should be receiving your results over the coming weeks but if you have not yet seen yours, please discuss this with your direct manager.
Congratulations to the RBWH Cancer Care Services Radiation Therapy Leadership team who will be receiving $300 towards a team building activity as one of the teams who achieved 100% survey completion.
QuARRIES Awards – Nominations open
The annual Quality Awards Recognising Remarkable Initiative and Excellence in Service (QuARRIES) are accepting nominations. These awards are an opportunity to celebrate our colleagues’ commitment to patient safety and quality. Nominations are made through the Oracle app before 16 October.
Odyssey Update
The Odyssey Program is undertaking a whole-of-hospital approach to improving care for our patients through process and cultural reform. Recently we have highlighted the timeliness of specialist consultations for our patients in the Emergency and Trauma Centre (ETC). I encourage the ETC and inpatient teams to ensure that we are capturing this information in order to better understand our ability to see patients in a timely manner. From here, we can then start to better understand our delays, as well as the supports or changes that may be required to improve access to care for our patients. We all have a vital role to play in improving patient care.
We’ve received some constructive feedback from a patient who has said: “I had the most positive experience with the staff during my care in the maternity ward. They made my stay comfortable and were always happy to help or answer any questions. A special mention to the midwives who made my labour experience a good one. Mary-Anne, Mel, Alesha and Bec were all fantastic through each stage of labour and I am very grateful for their kindness, passion and wealth of knowledge they showed.”
Thank you to you all for all the work you do in caring for patients and supporting their families, while also representing RBWH in a very positive way.
Kind regards,
Louise.