Dear colleagues,

This week I spent a day at Redcliffe Hospital meeting with staff and visiting different areas across the hospital. Thank you all for making me feel welcome and showing me around your areas. It was lovely to meet with kitchen and patient services staff as well and recognise the important contribution our Operational Services teams do across the health service.  Last week was Operational Services Recognition Week which highlights the role of the many people doing ‘behind the scenes’ work that is critical to patient care and the function of our facilities and services. If you follow Metro North’s Facebook page, you might have seen some of these Operational Services staff profiled on our Shout-out Saturdays.

Next week, The Prince Charles Hospital will host its annual Charlie’s Week celebrations to acknowledge and thank staff for their great work and efforts throughout the year. The week coincides with TPCH’s birthday and includes a range of celebratory activities including a staff wellness day, annual staff excellence awards, length of service recognition, fun activities and food. As part of the week, The Common Good will also host their inaugural Giving Day, where the wider community including businesses, residents and staff will be aiming to raise $250,000 to fund special projects to improve patient care. I wish TPCH staff and the Foundation all the best in hitting their target.

The inaugural CKW Research Symposium at Caboolture Hospital on Tuesday 19 October, also supported by The Common Good, will include research and quality improvement presentations and posters from the current and previous year. It will culminate in a keynote presentation looking at clinical research outside tertiary centres by Dr Mahesh Ramana, Intensive Care specialist at Caboolture and The Prince Charles Hospitals.

Executive team update

From 1 November, Dr David Rosengren will be returning to his role as Executive Director Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital. Executive Director Strategic Projects Sam Betros will be supporting me with the operations portfolio during November while the Chief Executive recruitment process is underway. I’d like to thank David for his work as Acting Chief Operating Officer for the past few months and Gillian Nasato and Glen Kennedy for their work as Acting ED and Acting Deputy ED RBWH. I appreciate our strong leadership team across the organisation.

Regards,

Jackie