Dale Dally-Watkins, Executive Director
I firstly would like to thank everyone for their patience this week with the ongoing Queensland Health internet network issues. Technology is fantastic when it works correctly but certainly a source of frustration when there are issues. As always, our team at STARS identified a number of work arounds and have been proactive in contacting patients to ensure the impact on patient care was minimised. Thank you again for all your hard work in this space.
Workforce development
Workforce development will continue to be a focus for Metro North this year. Queensland Health is currently asking for feedback on their consultation paper, Health Workforce Strategy for Queensland to 2032. The strategy has three focus areas:
- Supporting and retaining the current workforce
- Building new pipelines of talent
- Adapting and innovating new ways to deliver healthcare.
You can share your views via the feedback form by Wednesday 31 January 2023.
Psychological first aid courses
One of the ways we can retain our staff is by creating inclusive and psychologically safe workplace cultures. Psychological First Aid (PFA) is a great way of providing support to staff. We are currently offering 2 x 2 hour courses – Foundations and Applied on PFA for our line managers. Initial January training will be led by Staff Clinical Psychologists Andrew Cracker from Metro North and Allison Welch from STARS. Search for Psychological First Aid- Foundations or Applied on TMS to register. The first session starts on 24 January.
Short notice accreditation
The RBWH underwent their short notice accreditation this week so STARS will be lucky last! We will let you know when it’s STARS’ turn as soon as we are notified. In the meantime if you have any questions you can contact myself or the Safety and Quality Unit on stars_squ@health.qld.gov.au or 3647 7401.
Staff Forums
Our fortnightly staff forums will continue, with the next one taking place on Thursday 25 January at 11.00am. The Staff Forums are a chance to hear updates on operational matters, listen to presentations from guest speakers and ask any questions you might have. If you would like to either present at the Staff Forum or have a topic you would like addressed, you can submit it via our Staff Forum ideas form.
Metro North Clinician Research Fellowships
The Metro North Clinician Research Fellowships scheme is currently open for applications with a closing date of 26 February 2024. The scheme is designed to allow Metro North’s emerging and highly skilled clinician researchers to develop and advance a body of research to create a strong foundation of evidence-based healthcare.
A Q&A session will be conducted via Microsoft Teams, Wednesday 24 January 2024 at 2pm with two of the previous Fellowship recipients, A/Prof Jayesh Dhanani, Staff Specialist, Intensive Care, RBWH and Dr Thuy Frakking, Research Director and Speech Pathologist, Caboolture Hospital. Their experience will be able to provide an insight into the scheme and the application process from an applicant / clinician researcher perspective. To join this event please send a request to MetroNorthResearch-Grants@health.qld.gov.au.
Hand Hygiene Awards
Highly commended, Sonalben Patel
Auditor of the quarter, Maritess Alberto
Nathan Costin (far left) presenting Hand Hygiene Award winners, PACU
The winners of the 2023 fourth quarter Hand Hygiene Awards were recently announced. A big thank you to Nursing Director Nathan Costin who had big shoes to fill but excelled in his delivery. The winner was PACU – Recovery Level 2 Procedural Services, sitting at 95.7% compliance! PACU are now proudly showing off their banner and trophy in their clinical area for the next three months. It was a tie for second with 5A and 6B coming in at 92.2%.
All of this could not be possible if it wasn’t for the tireless effort of our auditors here at STARS. Every quarter we acknowledge an auditor of the quarter and a highly commended auditor. Auditor of the quarter goes to Maritess Alberto, 6B Surgical Inpatients and highly commended to
Sonalben Patel from Day Surgery. Congratulations
and thank you for all your hard work.
Looking after the building
We are very lucky to work in such a beautiful, state-of-the-art building and we would love to keep it that way. Just a friendly reminder that we are tenants and, therefore, need to be careful to limit any damage to the building. Damages will result in a rectification cost to STARS. Blu-tac, sticky tape or velcro dots are not permitted on paintwork (walls, door jambs) but can be used on glass (smooth side where tinting is installed) and wood-look laminate. Be very careful when removing and ask PSS to use cleaner to remove any residue. In addition, please be careful when moving things around the building so as to avoid knocking corners off walls and/or damaging lift doors. Thank you so much for your co-operation with this matter.
Kind regards,
Dale.