Dear colleagues,
With life returning more to normal, we’re able to restart our Metro North fun staff events for the year. First cab off the rank is our annual soccer tournament.
The tournament will be held at Albion Indoor Sports from 2-6pm on Saturday 19 June. There will also be a prize for best costume again.
I don’t want to say Metro North is full of soccer fanatics, but the slots fill up faster than any other event, so get your team together and register asap!
In July we’ll hold our virtual trivia event again across several sites, so keep an eye out for that.
This week we also launched the Metro North Research Excellence Awards. We had to postpone the 2020 awards to later in the year, so we’ve pushed these to July 29 to allow a bit more time between awards. Nominations for Research Excellence Awards close on 3 June.
Ministerial Roundtable
On Tuesday I participated in a Ministerial Roundtable at Parliament House to consider how we increase opportunities in the sphere of biomedical innovation. Other participants included Professor Ian Frazer, Professor Fabienne Mackay, Chief Executive Officer, QIMR, David Hey, Chief Executive Officer, Vaxxas and Dr Kym Bager, General Manager, Patheon (Thermo Fisher Scientific).
The Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) is inviting public sector employees to complete a survey to better understand corruption and corruption risks, attitudes to reporting, and awareness of prevention, organisational change and reporting obligations.
The survey is voluntary and anonymous and will take about 15 minutes. It is not related to any investigations and is not intended to identify specific instances of corrupt conduct.
If you would like to discuss any aspect of this survey or how the information you give will be used, please contact integritysurvey@ccc.qld.gov.au. Please note, the survey is not compatible with mobile phones.
For further information about the survey or to complete it, click here.
EOI Clinical Senate
The Queensland Clinical Senate is calling for expressions of interest for the role of Chair. Current Chair Dr Alex Markwell will be retiring from the role on 1 January 2022. The Senate is a multidisciplinary group of clinicians which provides independent advice to health system leaders and represents clinicians across the state.
Expressions of interest close 21 June 2021. More information on the role of the Senate and how to apply is available online https://clinicalexcellence.qld.gov.au/priority-areas/clinician-engagement/queensland-clinical-senate. I’d like to thank Alex for her work to date as Chair of the Senate.
It has been a tough week in our house. Our much-loved beagle Buckley passed. It never ceases to amaze me the tenacity we can show with regards to cancer. Poor Buckley had lung cancer with a mass the size of my fist but managed to hang on for the past year. When I think of my family, I have had four uncles pass from cancer and they all lasted 1-2 years longer than was predicted. Please do not think I am comparing our dog’s journey to the one our patients have. With any part of your family, be it a much loved furbaby or a relative, it is tough watching the journey their health brings them.
I am thankful every day when I look at the care and compassion that our staff show our patients and how we help families with their struggle to deal with their loved one’s journey. At an executive meeting this morning we had a patient story that emphasised the strong compassionate care we provide. I talk at orientation about our moments of truth with each other, patients and their families. This compassion and care should always define us as an organisation and I thank the people who model this. Where we fall short must be acknowledged and used as a prod to improve next time.
On Monday I’ll be at TPCH for the day. Come and chat with me in the staff dining room between 12.30 and 1.30pm. The following week I’ll be at North Lakes Health Precinct on Monday 24 May from 11.30am to 12.30pm.
Regards,
Shaun