Late last year, Australian Council of Health Care Standards (ACHS) accreditors visited CKW to assess our work against the eight National Safety and Quality Health Care Standards (NSQHS). It was a very strong focus across CKW and Metro North during 2023 to ensure we were ready.

This week, we received the official ACHS report with the key outcome that we have been awarded full accreditation until 23 January 2027. It was the first short-notice accreditation for CKW and we passed with flying colours!

I want to thank our everyone at CKW for the extensive work preparing and during the accreditation process.  The overwhelming positive feedback from the accreditors is a great reflection on the compassionate care provided at CKW every day.

On a different note, we have staff from many diverse backgrounds, which is represented in the community we care for as well.

Last weekend was Chinese New Year and welcomed the Year of the Dragon. I hope you had an opportunity to celebrate and continue the festivities this week.

Our Muslim colleagues and friends will start Ramadan in less than a month – from Saturday 9 March to Monday 8 April. It’s the most important month on the Muslim calendar, followed by celebrations for Eid ul-Fitr.

Paediatric Review underway

As you are aware, Caboolture Hospital is undertaking a review into its Paediatric Services.

For those of you are both staff and consumers of Caboolture Hospital, I invite you to participate in the consumer survey to assist the independent review team in making recommendations on how we can continue to improve our services for the local community.

Consumer survey: https://qrco.de/cab-survey.

Paediatric and Maternity visit

This week, Director of Operations David Thompson and I had the joy of visiting the paediatric ward with Kirsten showing us around and we saw the beautiful new wall tiles.

These tiles add some joy and a little colour to the ward. It was noticeable that the rest of the ward was very light and bright from a recent paint. However, it is a little stark from a paediatric fun perspective, we are looking forward to a wrap going up around the admission desk which I cannot wait to see.

I committed to coming back and talking to the team about some options to brighten the unit and make it a bit more paediatric friendly.

We also took a look at the outdoor area and the fairy garden, which is a lovely space but again the team noted they would like to have an outdoor space that is more usable for families and children, so this is a great focus for us when we have some fundraising opportunities.

Kirsty also showed us the outdoor area that provided some space for hospital staff to sit quietly at the back of paediatrics where there is only one lot of outdoor chairs really available and how a few more could be fitted. While we don’t have the ability to fix everything, it is knowing things like this that can help us improve the environment for you all.

Following this, acting Nursing Director of Nursing and Midwifery Chris Holm came on a tour of our maternity unit.

We were joined by Midwifery Unit Manager Stephanie Webster, Delivery Suite Clinical Midwife Consultant Diana Wing in Delivery Suite, then Neonatal Unit Team Leader Alicia Blake.

It was great to see the work these teams are doing to make the environment more inviting and therapeutic for the women and families.

I was really impressed to hear that our staff competency for water births was the highest across the Metro North Health team, it is a great option to be able to offer the women and families who use our service.

Roof tiles brighten the Paediatric Ward

The Common Good and Caboolture Hospital have completed the refurbishment of our Paediatric Unit. It looks great!

I was happy to see the upgrade first-hand this week. Improvements in clinical and administrative areas certainly make the ward a lot more comfortable for staff, patients and their families.

One of the things that I really noticed were the colourful ceiling tiles above treatment spaces which give our young patients something to focus on while undergoing treatment.

I loved the giraffes!

We’re also working with The Common Good again this year on the Hospitals United for Sick Kids (HUSK), previously known as the Curing Homesickness campaign.

I’m looking forward to sharing more good news soon!

National Apology Day event

On the 13th of February in 2008, then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd provided a formal apology to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people on behalf of the Australian Nation.

The national apology was particularly to the Stolen Generations who suffered terrible trauma due to policies that saw the forced removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their families and communities.  Each year on 13 February now marks the anniversary of this apology.

The Caboolture Hospital National Apology Day event yesterday was truly moving. The story of Aunty Ruthie told a very strong story.

My thanks to everyone who attended.

A special thank you to Cultural Capability Officer Janita Adams for organising the event and continuing to shine light on this important day. Thanks also to Director Tracy Grant for her great leadership.

Every time I attend these events I find them very emotional and I learn so much about our history, this year I was so lucky to yarn with many of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island staff and The Prince Charles Hospital and Kallangur teams who had come to join the commemoration with us.

They spoke of their personal experiences and how they see these events influencing our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island patient requests and concerns in hospital. I am ever so grateful for the generous sharing around such traumatic events and I hope in future messages with the appropriate permissions to share some of these learnings. Thank you all !

Some of the amazing things we should celebrate that were spoken about were how the CKW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services team has grown from four to 13 staff in the past 12 months, as well as 18 Deadly Start Trainees at Caboolture Hospital. A wonderful team providing compassionate care at CKW.

Do you know the background behind the Caboolture Hospital Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artwork?

It was developed by artist Elaine Chambers-Hegarty. The carpet snake are the main images in the artwork. The centre gathering circle represents the hospital being a place of healing highlighted by markings that are peaked with highs and lows, with people coming from north, south, east and west.

Other items are the Glasshouse Mountains, represented along with the Bunya Trees that were a gathering place for people to come together for traditional feasts.

The circles represent waterholes to highlight places of gathering many years ago, as well as places that people would find food. The sun and the moon are also prominent items on the artwork with Caboolture being the gateway to the Sunshine Coast.

The artwork is only to be used for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander specific services, programs and initiatives at Caboolture Hospital. Contact the Metro North Design for further guidance.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership Program

Nominations are currently open for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership Program.

Partnerships will be thoughtfully matched based on role/career orientated goals, with mentors fostering a supportive environment for participants to pinpoint career objectives, identify areas for skill and knowledge enhancement, and by providing encouragement and assistance in their mentee’s leadership development journey.

If you are interested in becoming a mentor within this valuable leadership program, submit an expression of interest before Friday 8 March.

Two special days for Marisa

Caboolture Hospital Infection Control Nurse Marisa Shillam will retire soon after 41 years nursing.

Marisa started her training as a nurse in 1983. When Caboolture Hospital’s Emergency Department opened in 1993, Marisa was part of the nursing staff. She often recalls those early days and the size of the emergency department then compared to now.

After backfilling in the infection control department during 2014, Marisa decided on a change in her nursing career and moved to the Infection Control Department as a Clinical Nurse permanently in 2015.

During her time in infection control, Marisa became a credentialled nurse immuniser and an appointed Contact Tracing Officer.

Her last worked shift will be in a few weeks – on Thursday 29 February – with her retirement officially starting on Thursday 4 July 2024. Two very special days, as she will finish on a leap year and July 4 also marks Marisa’s Independence Day. We wish you well!

After more than 30 years working at Caboolture Hospital, we hope that you enjoy retirement and have a wonderful time exploring Australia with your husband, Pete, your fur babies and your sea change to Woodgate, living beside the beach.

Reflection of the week:

You may have noticed that the Executive Director message is early this week! I’m on leave tomorrow and Friday, returning on Tuesday (20 February).

I am off to support crew my partner in an Ultra Trail race in New Zealand. This is both a joyful situation and a little sad for me as I was also meant to also be running. Injury is a great leveller and a true reminder that we have to continue forward even when things don’t seem to be going our way.

A great example is the old adage about being given lemons and making lemonade. The joy for me is I get to go to my homeland where I always feel I connect to the land and come back a little stronger and more energised. I get to see my mum and whanau and I also get to provide support to Michael who generally is my support crew both at home and on the event trail.

Meanwhile, I am very sad to leave my boys at home and this week they have been very disconcerted with bags packed around them… there is no travelling light with running events I have to say!

I am very grateful to Redcliffe Hospital Acting Executive Director Louise O’Riordan who has kindly agreed to cover both sites during my leave.

“When your life doesn’t go as planned, change your perspective but do not stop dreaming.”
Kate Maurice.

As always, I would love your feedback or thoughts on the link below. I have had some great feedback in the last week and really appreciate those of you who took the time to let me know what is important to hear about and how I get information out to you all.