Adj Prof Jackie Hanson, Chief Executive
This week the Premier and Minister for Health launched free RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) vaccinations for infants and young children, with Metro North one of the first health services to offer the vaccination to newborns. Babies up to three months are at increased risk of severe RSV, so it’s important that all maternity, birthing and neonatal staff are aware of the new vaccine and discuss it with parents of eligible babies. Yesterday Metro North Public Health Unit Director Daniel Francis held a vidcast to talk about RSV and the vaccine, ahead of World Immunisation Week next week. If you missed the vidcast, you can watch the recording on QHEPS.
While you’re on QHEPS, see when your local facility flu clinic is open. If you’re planning to get your vaccination with the family, the flu vaccination is free to all Queenslanders in community pharmacies. Please let us know via the online form you’ve had the vaccine privately to help inform our business continuity planning.
Health equity
On Wednesday I attended our health equity community event to meet with Elders, staff and community. These events are part of our commitment to ensuring our Health Equity Strategy is more than just a written document. By continually checking in with community and hearing their feedback, we can make sure we’re on the right track to achieving health equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples in a meaningful way. The strategy was co-designed with community and it’s important that we provide updates and take on feedback as we progress.
So far, we’re tracking well for more than a third of the commitments in our Health Equity Strategy, including reducing potentially preventable hospitalisations and diabetes complications, and improving oral health care, use of telehealth, and the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies. We have also seen an increase in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff across our workforce streams. Thank you to everyone who has worked hard to achieve these successes.
We are not yet achieving our goals for reducing the number of patients who fail to attend or do not respond for appointments, and increasing the number of pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people attending their first trimester antenatal appointments.
In June we will hold our Health Equity Showcase and provide further details on how we’re progressing against our targets.
You can read the Metro North Health Equity Strategy and implementation plan on our website.
Staff profile – Bob Campbell
The healthcare sector is the largest employer in Queensland, and across Metro North we employ more than 23,000 people. We don’t just employ a huge number of people, we also have an incredibly diverse range of jobs across the health service.
One of the roles people probably don’t think about when they’re looking at a career in healthcare is diving supervisor, but that’s effectively what Bob Campbell does at the RBWH.
Bob is a former naval clearance diver and saturation diver in the oil and gas industry. That experience has led him to his current role as a senior hyperbaric chamber supervisor.
Have Your Say survey
I’m really pleased that nearly 50 people have nominated to join the first five working groups for the Have Your Say survey implementation. There are another five groups which will start work later this year, so if you’re interested in being part of developing initiatives you can still put in an expression of interest.
Acting CE
I will be taking leave from 24 April to 9 June while I undergo and recover from surgery. Like a plumber with leaky pipes, I’ve been focussed on ensuring we deliver the best possible care to the community and have been putting off my own, so it’s long overdue. Jane Hancock will be the Acting Chief Executive during this time.
Last week I visited Brighton Health Campus and the gardens looked beautiful. Fantastic job by Ronnie and the gardening team!
Jackie.