I am always keen to hear directly about your successes and your challenges while working at CKW.

My ‘Ask Alanna’ sessions start next week at Caboolture Hospital on Tuesday (26 September). Please come and have a chat with me in the Central Courtyard between 9.30am and 10.30am.

I will be speaking with staff at all CKW facilities during September and October. The full program is below. Please come along and say hello!

• Tuesday 26 September:  9.30am – 10.30am – Caboolture Hospital central courtyard
• Wednesday 4 October: 1.30pm – 2.30pm – Caboolture Hospital Riverside office
• Thursday 12 October: 4pm – 5pm – Caboolture Satellite Hospital
• Monday 16 October:  3.30pm – 4.30pm – GP Super Clinic Bertha St
• Tuesday 24 October: 10am- 11am – Woodford Corrections Health
• Tuesday 24 October: 12.30pm – 1.30pm – Kilcoy Hospital
• Wednesday 1 November: 12pm -1pm – Caboolture Hospital central courtyard

Dementia Action Week

This week was Dementia Action Week and yesterday was World Alzheimer’s Day. We had the pleasure of hosting dementia advocate, author, and lived experience expert, Christine Bryden who generously shared her learnings and advice for health staff on how best to communicate with people with dementia and their loved ones. It was a powerful reminder of the impact our words can have. As Christine says, “We are not our disease or illness. We’re people first, so speak to us that way.” Thank you to both Christine and her husband Paul, for sharing their time and expertise with us.

New staff in CKW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services

Welcome Thomas Casey, who started this week in the Community Engagement Officer (Male) role at Caboolture Satellite Hospital. Thomas is a proud Aboriginal Garawa and Gangalidda man and previously an Indigenous Youth and Family Worker in Ipswich.

Welcome also to Shaniqua Enoch, who joins CKW as the Indigenous Hospital Liaison Officer
(After Hours) at Caboolture Hospital. Shaniqua is a proud Noonuccal and Widi woman and
comes from Specialist Outpatients at Caboolture Hospital.

So pleased to have you as part of the wonderful CKW team.

Recruitment virtual sessions now live in TMS

Metro North Health released a revised Recruitment and Selection Directive earlier in the year.

The recruitment team has built on previous training to develop new two-hour virtual training sessions for hiring managers. These sessions are now live in TMS and delivered via Microsoft Teams.

Wednesday 4 October: 10am – 12pm
Wednesday 8 October: 10am – 12pm
Wednesday 6 December: 10am -12pm

These sessions will also include information on the Recruitment and Selection Directive updates.   You can register by accessing this link.

Enterprise Scheduling Management (ESM) training update

A reminder that next week is the final week of instructor-led classroom training sessions for Caboolture, Kilcoy and Woodford (CKW) staff that have been identified for Enterprise Scheduling Management (ESM) training.

Line managers can click here to book staff in for instructor-led training via Talent Management System (TMS).

Please speak to your line manager as an urgency if you have been identified for ESM training and have not yet been booked in for your instructor-led training.

Both compulsory online prerequisite training – available to complete here – and instructor-led training must be completed before CKW goes live with ESM.

What a Compliment!

We receive a large number of compliments for the Caboolture Hospital Emergency Department each month. Here’s one from August:

“After presenting to Emergency under direction from my own medical centre, I was checked and fast tracked immediately.

“All staff were very knowledgeable and helpful. Nurse relieved pain after irrigating wound and rebandaged hand. Doctor did a great job of stitching up the wound and providing information of aftercare.

“Information was issued for the newly opened satellite hospital. Overall, extremely happy.”

What a great story and while this is just one example of the great care provided, I see many wonderful compliments every single week.  Well done to the ED Caboolture and it is heartening and humbling that the patient left us after such a wonderful experience.

Congratulations

Congratulations to Dr Gunjan Chawla who has been appointed as CKW’s Acting Director of Clinical Training and Acting Workplace Based Assessment Clinical Lead for the next six months.

Recruitment for the Deputy Director Clinical Training will start soon.

Congratulations also to Ansuyah (Anne) Padayachee who has been successful in the Expression of Interest to undertake the role of Acting Director Allied Health.  Anne will be in the role while we seek to undertake the role description review and the recruitment process.  Thank you Anne.

Finally…

We are now in the midst of school holidays, and this is always a challenge for many people who juggle the issues of having school aged children and managing work.  While I now have adult children, it doesn’t pose too much of a problem for me, but I thank those of you who must sort through the issues that having school aged children at home during this time causes. Please know that the circus act (juggling) that you do to make this happen is appreciated by not only myself and the executive teams but also by your colleagues. I am acutely aware of the impact that work can have on family.

I would also like to take this opportunity to advise you that the Executive Director CKW position has now been advertised and the recruitment process is about to commence.

This is an exciting time for CKW. Caboolture Hospital is about to turn 30!!  Commencing 2 October, a team of very dedicated CKWers are planning a month of celebrations and acknowledgement for this wonderful facility. Thank you to Parker Michaels and Judy Gentle who are leading the charge but also to those who are providing advice on potential activities and events for the month. Please watch out for the events and I hope I see you at many of them. The planning team are also aiming to have opportunities for our dedicated afternoon and night staff to have some fun, so please know you have not been forgotten in the planning.

Until next week, keep doing what you do so well.  Look after our patients and their families, but also look after you and your families and loved ones.

Alanna.