Message from the Acting Executive Director

Accreditation is not something we should feel anxious about. We welcome accreditation because it’s a positive opportunity to showcase how we provide safe and quality care, every single day.

We will be holding a Special Staff Forum via Microsoft Teams on Monday if you have any last-minute questions. The invitation for that session should be in your Outlook calendar this afternoon.

I will also be hosting a Mangers Forum in person in the Caboolture Hospital Lecture Theatre. In-person attendance will be compulsory for all line managers.  This is a good time to work through any last-minute challenges, if there are any!

Until then, if you have any concerns or are feeling unsure about anything to do with accreditation, please talk to your line manager or Nurse Unit Manager.  Remember, we are all in this together and we are a fabulous directorate that should be proud of It’s our turn! Caboolture Hospital, Kilcoy Hospital and Woodford Corrections Health welcomes short notice accreditation and we’ll have Australian Council on Health Care Standards (ACHS) assessors with us from 8am next Tuesday.what we do and be happy to share with the ACHS team.

This is a great opportunity to showcase the compassionate patient care we provide to the communities we serve.

Clinical Services Building update

After a very busy week, we have successfully opened our new wards, ICU and perioperative unit in the Clinical Services Building.

The final step in the opening sequence is to open the new Emergency Department, which we can now confirm will open at 8am on Wednesday (6 December 2023).

At this time, the existing Emergency Department in the Main Hospital Building will cease accepting patients and the new Emergency Department in the Clinical Services Building will open.

When the new Emergency Department opens, the new Emergency Department drop off road at the front of the hospital and the new main entry into the Clinical Services Building will also open.

The current ambulance bay at the existing Emergency Department will also close and ambulances will enter the Emergency Department via the new ambulance bay at the back of the Clinical Services Building.

This is a big change for Caboolture Hospital and our community – all our years of planning and hard work are finally being realised.

I am aware that there are a few issues which we need to work through. Please know that the project team have not pulled up stumps yet and are working through any issues – major or minor – to ensure that we have a fully functional new building. They will work through the issues from a clinical priority perspective, so please be patient.

Remember, everyone is doing their utmost to ensure that our transition is smooth. Please be patient with each other and those trying to help, including the project team. It has been a long time in the making, but the rewards are evident already. Thank you to all for making this such a wonderful success.

Senior appointments

Congratulations to Tarryn Day, who has been permanently the role of Ward 3A Nurse Unit Manager.  Well done, Tarryn.

Caboolture Hospital volunteer celebrate Christmas!

Yesterday, we celebrated the Caboolture Hospital volunteers who generously donate their time, energy and kindness to us and our community throughout the year.

From helping people find their way, making admission packs and helping in the canteen, to sprinkling calm fairy dust over-anxious kids and providing chaplaincy support, our volunteers are the friendly faces and helpful hands that make this place wonderful.

If you see a volunteer, please thank them for all they do every day. 

CKW Length of Service ceremony

The simple act of saying ‘thank you’ does wonders. Yet sometimes, those two words alone don’t seem to suffice.

Earlier today, we celebrated our people at the CKW Length of Service ceremony. We recognised the contribution of nearly 300 people, who between that have dedicated many thousands of hours to the service of our patients.

Working in healthcare can be challenging at times but, equally, it can also be one of the most rewarding careers.

At today’s ceremony, we said thank you and acknowledged how our people have responded with courage and compassion creating their own powerful legacy in the story of CKW and our colleagues at Red-Cab Mental Health.

You are truly seen and heard. Your efforts help us set the highest possible standards of clinical excellence and safety in the delivery of compassionate and person-centered care.

My chance meeting!

After giving out the Length of Service awards, Richard Pineda came up to me to say hello. I am always happy to meet our staff, so I was very glad he said hello… but little did I know what he was about to tell me!

Richard and his wife Mary-Anne have worked at Caboolture Hospital for several years. Mary-Anne previously had worked at the TPCH and RBWH.

Approximately 17 years ago, several Queensland Health Staff were sent to the United Kingdom to recruit nursing and midwifery staff. I was sent to Manchester and literally interviewed hundreds of prospective applicants for jobs in Queensland.

Mary-Anne was on maternity leave from her nursing position in Manchester and applied to come to Australia. Mary-Anne was one of the applicants in that enormous pool of applicants. I employed her and all these years later I run into her at Caboolture! She works in our surgical services and Richard works in the Day Procedure Unit.

I was so excited to see Mary-Anne and Richard and to know not only that Australia and Queensland has been good to them, but their two children have grown up in Queensland and love the life they have.

They also had nothing but wonderful things to say about CKW and that made me so very happy. This absolutely made my Friday!

Final chance to secure tickets to Metro North Staff Excellence Awards!

Don’t miss your chance to attend the Metro North Staff Excellence Awards.

The event will once again be held at the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre on Friday 15 December and tickets are selling quickly!

I am going to be there and if it is okay with all of you, I plan to sit at the CKW tables with the CKW teams. There are many worthy CKW nominations and I am hoping we do well. It would a wonderful ending of big year of significant achievement!

More information and reserve your tickets.

OPEN now available

The Metro North Health Older Persons Emergency Network (OPEN) has recently replaced RADAR Rapid Response, offering an emergency department substitution service for older people in their own home in the Metro North catchment.

Older people attending hospital have a greater risk of hospital-based harm due to a high level of vulnerability to complications such as falls, delirium, pressure injuries and secondary infection.

The OPEN model aims to reduce these risks by providing emergency healthcare in the community, including in residential aged care facilities. The multidisciplinary team consists of senior medical officers, nurse practitioners, specialist nurses and pharmacists. To find out more about the referral process, please visit the OPEN website.

Understanding gifts and sponsorships

Lots of great work has been done this year to build partnerships with our community. Partnerships and collaborations are important, but as public sector employees, we’re also bound by rules around gifts and sponsorships.

With Christmas nearly here, it’s time to remind ourselves of those rules about which gifts can be accepted, what needs to be declared, and what should be declined.

Planning is now also well underway for hospital events and training sessions for next year. If your team is planning an event, education or training session that involves a company or organisation providing “free” catering, this may be a sponsorship that needs approval at the Metro North level. More information about how sponsorships work is available on QHEPS or by talking to Metro North Communications.

What a compliment!

A great compliment for Dr Tasveer (Taz) Singh for his compassionate approach and great follow-up care:

“I have very high praise for my surgeon – Dr Taz Singh and the anaesthetist Dr Jack.

“They were very good at putting me at ease and taking great care of me. I really appreciated the time Taz took to explain things to me and answer all my questions and addressing my concerns.

“I was very concerned about being treated at Caboolture, but I am so glad that I was fortunate to have Dr Taz caring for me. I cannot thank you enough.

“Even the follow up post-surgery was fantastic. Dr Taz is an amazing doctor with a fantastic bedside manner.”

Finally,

Caboolture Hospital Chaplain Audrey has confirmed that the Chapel’s annual Christmas Carols will be held on Thursday 14 December, starting at 2pm. Carollers will be coming from Bribie Island.

It’s one of the great events we’re planning for Christmas. Only a few weeks to go now!

This weekend, I plan to put up my Christmas decorations. I have sent my husband up into the attic and they are all on the back deck waiting for me to get my act together. It will be hot work but to be honest I love it when they are all up and the house looks so festive. I just hate it in January when I have to take them all down!

I also need to start doing some Christmas shopping. I do this every year… leave it to the end and then panic.

As a result of my panic and lack of planning, I spend far too much money. I then have a cranky husband but very happy children and grandchildren. My lack of coordination reaps many rewards for them.

So, have a great weekend. Stay cool and, as always, stay safe.

Alanna.