31 March 2021

Dear colleagues,

Yesterday the Chief Health Officer announced that from today, staff must have received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine to work with COVID-positive patients.

I’m pleased to share that from 8am today all our staff working with COVID-positive patients or guests have been vaccinated. This is great news for all of us as we care for COVID-19 positive patients and guests across our facilities. Thank you all for being diligent with this.

Our staff vaccination hubs will be running through to COB Thursday before taking a break over the Easter period. This well-deserved down time will give our vaccination teams a chance to rest and recuperate before resuming vaccinations again on Tuesday. Thank you for your professionalism and amazing output.

Restricted movement reminder

With growing COVID-positive clusters and a subsequent lockdown of PA Hospital, PAH has stopped any of their staff working in other Metro South facilities. Similarly, staff who have worked at PAH during their lockdown are not to work in any Metro North Health facilities.

This also serves as a reminder to us all to minimise movement between our MNH facilities. Please ensure you are entering facilities via dedicated staff entry points and that you wear your face mask at all times, unless in an individual office.

Expanding capacity to support Metro South and key response areas

To assist our colleagues at the PA Hospital while in lockdown, we will be expanding capacity across our EDs and looking at areas where we can reduce elective surgeries to allow for this.

A special thank you to our hard-working staff who will make this possible, especially those working over the Easter long weekend.

If your normal role has slowed down and you are now in a reduced activity area, please speak to your line manager who can offer your assistance to areas within your service that may have increased demands.

Looking out for each other this Easter

While we are unsure what will happen with restrictions over Easter at this stage, let’s all do our best to make it a great Easter weekend and for those fortunate enough to have time off, this is a great opportunity to slow down and relax.

A reminder that staff can seek HR advice from the COVID-19 HR hotline by calling 3647 2819, emailing MetroNorthHR@health.qld.gov.au or visiting the website.

Regards,

Mark Butterworth

Metro North Incident Controller

Metro North HHS – overview of cases*

*With effect 31 March 2021, 1000
**Metro North has three recorded deaths (one person a return traveller into NSW, who passed away in NSW)
*** These numbers reflect the cases being managed by Metro North.