Michele Gardner  
Metro North Health Incident Controller

Since acting Chief Operating Officer I have been very impressed with the cooperation and collegiality across our clinical directorates. It’s wonderful to see everyone so committed to patient centred care and ensuring patients can get not only clinically appropriate care but also care that recognises their other needs, such as providing treatment closer to home.

The past three years have seen regular disruptions to our usual schedules and ways of working. During this recovery phase many staff have been going above and beyond to reduce our wait lists and ensure patients receive care in a timely manner. This includes providing outpatient appointments and operating and procedural work on weekends and evenings, putting patients at the centre of care. Many staff are working across Metro North facilities to improve patient access to care. Thank you for demonstrating our values in action, cooperation and community spirit.

Through the floods earlier this year we have had staff working from alternative locations and again showed our strength as a team and our commitment to working together to deliver safe and high quality care.

We are seeing quite a few staff off with COVID at the moment. Thank you also for those staff who have stepped up to support the health service when colleagues are sick or on leave.

I’d also like to say thank you to my colleagues for your support while I’ve been acting COO and in my role as Executive Director Clinical Governance, Safety, Quality and Risk. I am fortunate to work with so many talented and dedicated people at all levels across the organisation.

I look forward to working with everyone in the new year as we progress some significant bodies of work, including the introduction of short notice accreditation and Metro North being accredited as one organisation.

Happy Christmas to those who celebrate it, and if you’re taking break have a great time.

Kind regards,
Michele