Adj Assoc Prof Jackie Hanson, Chief Executive, MN Health

You might have seen the Director-General’s message last week about how Queensland Health performs compared to other states, according to data from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. In many cases, Queensland’s performance is leading the country such as elective surgery times, average length of stay, percentage of people on wait lists longer than 365 days, and public hospital separations. In median ED wait times and overall proportion of patients seen within clinically indicated times, Queensland is second only behind New South Wales.

The DG also talked about the increases in ED presentations since 2013, with a 64% rise in category 1 presentations, 104% rise in category 2, and 43% in category 3 which is the largest overall cohort. The numbers show the incredible work you’re all doing every day. If you haven’t seen the DG TV episode, I encourage you to take a look (it was sent last Thursday around 3pm).

I am having a lot of conversations both locally and at the statewide level around workforce pressures, particularly filling vacancies. Workforce shortages is currently one of the biggest challenges facing the healthcare sector globally. Increasing costs, reducing pipelines of talent, and increasing demand for healthcare services and complexity of care mean current approaches to attracting and retaining staff and service delivery are not sustainable.

To help address this, Metro North will be hosting a Workforce Reform Summit to develop a Workforce Reform Roadmap that will outline critical projects we will focus on over a 10-year horizon to drive workforce reform and to create a sustainable workforce. There will be many opportunities for feedback and involvement as we develop the Roadmap, but we are keen to hear from staff early on about what you consider to be some of our biggest workforce priorities and opportunities to create a more sustainable workforce. If you would like to provide any feedback or ideas on Metro North’s workforce priorities or opportunities ahead of our Workforce Reform Summit on 2 May 2023, please email them through.

Metro North is committed to eliminating Institutional Racism as a priority. You would all be aware now the KPA 1 of the Metro North, the South East Queensland and the Department of Health health equity strategies have actions and activities to be implemented. Sadly, not only do Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience institutional racism and unconscious bias, at a recent listening post I attended a valued member of staff recounted how he encountered in his workplace racist comments from a patient. While he called the behaviour out, he was disappointed it was left to him and his colleagues around him did not.

We are changing our new staff orientation to include no tolerance for racism, however for our existing staff I would ask that you talk about these matters in your work unit meetings and huddles. I expect this to be everybody’s business and to stand and speak up respectfully if you witness any form of racism.

Pamela Ray

With the arrival of cooler weather, please consider an autumn tidy of your work environment. A tidy and orderly area increases efficiency, reduces the risk of workplace accidents, and also helps you think more clearly. Plus, it helps us to reduce waste by making us think about what we’re using and putting around the place. If you’d like to make your area more green and sustainable, contact your local Waste Coordinator or join your local Green Team.

Congratulations to speech pathologist Pamela Ray who recently celebrated 50 years working for Queensland Health. Many at RBWH would know Pam, as she has been instrumental in making great changes to speech pathology practice and patient care in the ICU, geriatric services, burns, stroke, neurology, medical and surgical caseloads, and ENT. She worked at the RBWH from 1982 right through to 2019. In her own words, she loves the problem-solving nature of her profession and the opportunity to bring innovation and positive change to speech pathology and patient care across many different settings. Now working at the Halwyn Centre, a Metro North residential service for people with disabilities, she is currently working with the residents who have dysphagia or swallowing difficulties, and ultimately is providing much needed care that improves their quality of life. Thank you, Pam, for your many years of dedicated service.

At last week’s Premier’s Awards for Excellence, Metro North shared in the Queensland Health win for the response to the COVID pandemic. It’s an award we can all be proud of after more than two years of caring for people during the pandemic.

Transitioning from paediatric to adult services can be difficult for young people with complex care needs and anything we can do to ease this transition has an impact on the patient experience. Across Metro North we have several programs which support younger patients moving to adult services, such as the Sony You Can Centre and the new young adult clinic for kidney transplant recipients. Metro North is also providing excellent care for young people through the gender service. Thank you to these teams for supporting young people to make the move to adult services.

Kind regards,

Jackie.