5 May 2020 – COVID-19 (coronavirus)

Dear Colleagues,

Welcome back after the long weekend. I hope for those who were fortunate enough to have some time off, it was spent relaxing with family and abiding by the new relaxed restrictions. For those who held down the fort, thank you. We’ve seen another great week across both Metro North and Queensland – our virtual and inpatient wards have the lowest number of COVID-19 patients we’ve seen for months.

Here’s the week in review:

Preparedness initiatives last week:

• Ongoing work with Healthcare Improvement Unit, State-wide ICU Clinical Network and Retrieval Services Queensland on establishing a Queensland Intensive Care support and telehealth program to assist with responding to COVID-19.
• Metro North Virtual ED has continued to received referrals and patients from GPs.
• Reviewed visitor restrictions to our facilities.

Our activity for the past week

• As at 10am Sunday 3 May, we have had 327 people confirmed with COVID-19 in Metro North, of whom 301 have recovered.
• Assessment and testing through fever clinics bring the total to 14,679 presentations in the Metro North region.
• Several health service activities have recommenced, including:
• • Outpatient appointments
  • Elective surgery and procedural work
  • Routine breast screening
• Vidcast session for staff (now weekly).
• Expanded resources for staff on the COVID-19 extranet.

Looking after our people

I’m very pleased to see we’ve had an excellent response to the RUOK?: collegiate support network training which has already been completed by around 150 staff.

Registrations for the RUOK? training are still open but spaces are filling fast. If you’d like to participate to help further support your colleagues, visit the staff wellbeing portal for details.

Psychologists have been recruited for a responsive one-to-one COVID staff psychology service which will provide tailored support for staff working directly with our COVID-19 positive patients. The service will ‘go-live’ from Monday 11 May. Please refer to the staff wellbeing portal for more information on how to access this service.

The staff wellbeing portal also provides links to information about looking after your emotional, physical, social and financial wellbeing.

Preparedness initiatives in the coming week

• Enhance PPE stock level monitoring and continue to work with Health Support Queensland regarding supply issues.
• Monitoring progress of recommenced services across Metro North such as elective surgery, breast screening and outpatients.
• Recommencement of oral health services from 5 May.
• Commence evaluation of pandemic response activities and identify strategies to embed new practices.
• Continue to review and refine pandemic response policies.

Maximising our resources 

This past week also saw the resumption of some elective surgery, procedures, outpatient appointments and routine breast screening. We will continue to monitor the progress of these services in conjunction with PPE stocks and supplies.

Privacy Awareness Week

This week is Privacy Awareness Week. Over the past few months we’ve shifted very quickly into new ways of working, especially with working from home and doing a lot of our work virtually. We need to make smart choices about how we collect, use, store and share personal information in the workplace and in our personal lives. Under the Information Privacy Act 2009 we are all responsible for protecting and respecting the personal information we collect, hold and share.

Digital Metro North also has some resources to help us all manage our online security and ensure we’re taking every step to protect sensitive information.

Celebrating midwives

Happy International Day of the Midwife to all our midwives across Metro North. Today’s an important day to consider the important role midwives play in supporting parents throughout pregnancy and birth. In the uncertain COVID-19 environment, it’s an even more critical role to make parents feel supported and safe in our care.

Here are the two entries from our home MasterChef challenge between Ned and I. Sadly Ned won the first challenge. We tied in the voting from friends and family on Ned’s Facebook, but Ned got 3/3 on the taste test for best dish. I requested that she should be searched for yellow sandpaper but was denied. Round two is the dessert challenge this weekend.

Ned’s entry was hand rolled gnocchi with lamb ragout and springtime garlic focaccia (the red wine was optional). My entry was pan seared scallops with cauliflower puree with bacon/panko crumb and honey soy glazed pork belly.

Regards,

Shaun