It’s the first day of December and the festive season and summer are both already making themselves known. Parents of school aged children will be very aware that schools are wrapping up for the year.

This time of year can be hard for many people. Metro North provides a range of wellbeing support for staff, including peer responders, staff psychologists, RU OKers, and the employee assistance program. Please check in with each other and be a supportive ear to those who need it.

Metro North’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social and Emotional Wellbeing Officers Jesse and Nickita are also doing site visits during December and January to provide one on one support. Over the next two weeks they will be at Herston on 4 December, Redcliffe on 5 December, Caboolture on 11 December, Brighton on 12 December, TPCH on 13 December, and Biala on 14 December. If you have any questions or would like more information, please email Jesse and Nickita at ATSILT_Wellness_Referrals@health.qld.gov.au.

Infrastructure milestones

This week Caboolture Hospital continued the transition to the new Clinical Services Building. The moves have gone very smoothly, with patients settled into the new wards without a hitch. The final services will move over next week. Thank you to the move teams for doing such a great job.

This week the building was officially opened by Deputy Premier, Minister for Health, Mental Health and Ambulance Services and Minister for Women, and local MPs.

This morning we’ve also got the official opening of Kallangur Satellite Hospital which will commence operations on 11 December.

Kurbingui partnership

Yesterday, our ED Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Sherry Holzapfel and I had the pleasure of meeting with Glenda Jones-Terare, the Chief Executive Officer of Kurbingui Youth and Family Development Limited, to sign a Letter of Intent for an ongoing partnership.

This partnership includes our commitment to delivering health prevention, intervention and education services at Kurbingui, and co-designing community engagement and consultation to improve service delivery for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and families accessing our hospitals and health services. This is another important step on our health equity journey in Metro North.

Message in a bottle

“The job of the Chief Executive is sometimes unclear to the workers on the front line. It would be nice to hear about the day-to-day life of some of our executive team so we can relate to them a bit more. It would be nice to connect with the leadership team in other formats, e.g. in person not just email.”

Thank you for this feedback. The Metro North leadership team now holds our meetings at various locations across Metro North including a local staff forum. The next one is at RBWH next Thursday at 11.30am – please come along if you can.

I will also talk to the team about doing some short sharp interactive sessions by Teams next calendar year in addition to the regular vidcasts. If you have an idea for a topic you’d like us to talk about, please let me know.

World AIDS Day

Today is World AIDS Day. For many of us who have worked in healthcare a long time, we have seen HIV and AIDS treatment, awareness and community perceptions come a very long way. We are finally at the point where many people with HIV are living long healthy lives with an undetectable virus. But while research and healthcare have put us on the path to beat AIDS by 2030, it is still a very big issue in many parts of the world with someone dying every minute.

This year’s World AIDS Day theme is Let Communities Lead, supporting those on the frontline of the battle against AIDS and the grassroots activists fighting for the right to health. As healthcare workers, we can’t take our eye off the ball. See the UNAIDS factsheet for the global stats on HIV and AIDS in 2023.

Thank you

I received this feedback from a patient’s mother this week:

“My daughter spent 24 hours in RBWH emergency and the short stay unit… I was so impressed with her care that I wanted to say thank you! Public hospitals get such a bad wrap but (her) treatment was excellent… All staff were polite and professional, keeping (her) up to date with diagnoses and treatment. Thanks again.”

Our hardworking staff hear too frequently when someone’s care is not to the standard expected, so it is important to pass on lovely feedback when it is received. Well done.

Accreditation

Short notice assessments are continuing with one occurring at TPCH last week. We’re expecting more before the end of the year. This is a critical piece of work, and we need to be accreditation ready every day, not only for the assessors but for our patients and community. Thanks again to all the staff who have continued to be open and inviting with the assessors.

Staff Excellence Awards

Our judges have finished reviewing the nominations for this year’s Metro North Staff Excellence Awards. Feedback from several has been that reading through the nominations has been the best part of their day. Thank you to everyone who nominated a colleague or team for an award.

The finalists will be announced on Monday. In the meantime, tickets are on sale for the gala dinner on Friday 15 December. I wasn’t able to attend last year’s event so I’m very much looking forward to seeing you all there in two weeks!

Kind regards,

Jackie.