Louise Oriti, Executive Director
It has been a high energy week for us all with the ACHS Short Notice Assessment accreditors on site to assess our facility against the eight National Safety and Quality Health Service Standards. The Executive have heard so many positive comments about your teamwork, commitment to care, and willingness to talk with the assessor team.
As an organisation we have been preparing for Short Notice Accreditation in earnest since a peer review in April 2023. You have been working on your mandatory training, ensuring procedures are up to date, reviewing systems and processes, working with consumers and on health equity, thank you all so much for your focus on the National Safety and Quality Standards. RBWH Executive have a clear vision on the next steps and how we wish to build on the feedback from the assessors.
As a brief anecdote about what assessors notice, it was pouring rain when the team of 12 arrived on our campus on Monday morning, and I was proud to hear one of our staff members unknowingly offer their umbrella to the lead assessor as they entered our hospital. The assessor was so impressed by this, and felt it was a strong reflection of Metro North’s values and the positive culture at RBWH. The team carried this sentiment throughout their time at the hospital. I will leave it to the hospital rumour mill to identify this gallant colleague!
Congratulations Team Royal, the assessors have been exceedingly impressed by you. Some of the specific things noted by the assessors in this afternoon’s summation were the respect and teamwork evident in our teams, the sense of calm they observed everywhere even with complex caseloads, our commitment to innovation and research, the level of consumer involvement across RBWH, the passion of our Staff Council, the efficiency of our Food Services teams, the gender diversity video shown in orientation, the Up Late meetings and exemplary clinical handover practices.
Overall, they had “an absolutely wonderful week”. Thank you for your hard work preparing for this week, for welcoming the accreditors so warmly and for showcasing the great work we do here. It has been a true team effort.
Whilst you all contributed to the success of accreditation, some people put in an ultra-marathon of effort. I would like to thank Chrissy Battersby and the SIS team, Sarah Black, Elaina Coyne, Kaylene Woollett and the senior nurses, along with Peter King and the operational services teams. These people went above and beyond.
RBWH Managers Forum
Yesterday, I hosted the first RBWH Manager’s Forum alongside Service Line Executives. The Manager’s Forum is for senior leaders in the organisation and is an opportunity to communicate key organisational priorities and initiatives, as well as a space to ask questions and a soundboard for new ideas. Moving forward, I hope it will provide greater transparency and understanding of our decision making and ensure senior leaders are fully informed so they can successfully support their teams.
Positive feedback
One of our staff members has recently brought to my attention a positive story about the RBWH cardiac team posted on a popular social media platform. The post received more than 500 likes from the Brisbane community and the comment section is full of similar positive stories and praise for RBWH. The post read:
“Just wanted to create a quick thread to publicly acknowledge the staff at the cardiac unit at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. My father was hit with a pretty serious coronary infarction last night, and if it wasn’t for the exemplary conduct of the paramedics, doctors and nurses, I’m not sure he would still have been with us.
From the admissions lady to the cardiologist, each and every one of the staff we interacted with were professional, friendly, caring and competent.If anyone here happens to work at this hospital; the standard of care has been exemplary and our family will be forever in your debt.”
Please reflect on this positive feedback and be proud of the difference we make in people’s lives every day.
Executive update
On Wednesday, the RBWH Executive team attended a risk management workshop run by the Metro North Risk Management team. The workshop covered how risk is the effect of uncertainty, and is usually triggered by assumption, complexity and change. We participated in a robust discussion about managing risk at RBWH and spoke about how understanding how others perceive risk and taking the time to discuss perceived risk within teams can help develop a common understanding. If you would like to explore risk management further, I encourage you to review the Metro North Risk Appetite Statement.
Thank you again for all your hard work this week.
Kind regards,
Louise.