Dear colleagues,

Last week I was saddened to hear about the passing of a member of our Metro North family, Hayley Middleton. Hayley worked for Metro North for many years before we were even Metro North and was at The Prince Charles Hospital for over a decade. After a brief stint in another health service, she returned to work in the then Community, Indigenous and Subacute Services, now Community and Oral Health.

Hayley was passionate about healthcare, about our people and how we could serve our community. She was spirited about the things that mattered and advocated for patients through her roles in strategy and planning. I thoroughly enjoyed our friendly sparring sessions during performance meetings when I was ED Operations.

Hayley was well known and extremely well liked and respected across our health service. My thoughts are with Hayley’s family and colleagues in this sad time.

Executive update

Thank you to Adam Scott who is finishing up as Acting Executive Director Clinical Support Services on Sunday and return to clinical duties. It has been an extremely busy year for Clinical Support Services, with new processes and protocols to support our pandemic response.

For the meantime, business as usual delegations for CSS staff will flow to David Rosengren and Gillian Nasato.

Metro North soccer

Our Metro North soccer tournament was a lot of fun. As usual, there were some very enthusiastic competitors.

Congratulations to Team Battle Royal (RBWH) for taking the lead over TPCH’s The Common Script in the final game, and in third and fourth places Rosemount Turkeys and Ball STARS. Best dressed on the day were the Cardiac Cobras from RBWH, who might’ve been a bit confused about what sport was on offer with their outfits inspired by the movie Dodgeball.

NAIDOC

Given the restrictions in South East Queensland, our Metro North NAIDOC celebrations will be virtual this year. Please take some time to watch the videos online and celebrate our nation’s history and cultures. This year’s theme, Heal Country!, reflects the need to bring people together to recognise, protect and maintain all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage. A series of short films are being released each day during NAIDOC Week (4-11 July) via the Better Together Health Van website and Facebook.

Metro North is committed to improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through not only healthcare, but also using our strength as a large organisation as an employer and customer.

Metro North’s Deadly Start program is an excellent education to employment traineeship which has been a success in its first few years. This week we welcomed 51 incoming trainees at an orientation session, joined by their parents and trainers.

The program is one of Metro North’s initiatives to improve health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through employment and health literacy. The Deadly Start students are easily recognised in their uniforms, so please make them feel welcome if you see any trainees in your facility.

Nursing recruitment

We are still seeing high numbers of presentations across the health service, as demand grows. We are rolling out a number of strategies to help create capacity across our services, including a recruiting for nurses in New Zealand. We’re offering a range of full, part time and casual nursing and midwifery roles across the HHS. If you know a nurse in New Zealand who might want to escape a real winter for our slightly cooler than usual weather, let them know we’re hiring.

Regards,

Shaun