Happy Friday everyone.

Again, it has been a busy week, I am not sure there is any other kind!

Firstly, I want to wish all our female team members a Happy International Women’s Day! We in health are truly lucky to have so many exemplary female leaders, in so many aspects of our workplace and life.

You all play a leadership role in some way – at work, at home, to colleagues, to family, to friends, to community. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank all our staff members who are not women but support and encourage women in attaining their potential and achieving their goals, both colleagues, friends and your daughters, sisters and other friends.

This year’s theme for International Women’s Day is “Inspire Inclusion” which encourages everyone to recognise the unique perspectives and contributions of women from all walks of life, including those from marginalized communities.

This sits so well with our values and focus on inclusion in Metro North Health. I know in health that we often have a sense that equality for women is there as our largest professional group (Nursing and Midwifery) is predominantly female. However, this week it is important to note that this is not broadly the case with media earlier this week presenting the still significant pay gap and work and education equity gaps.

I had the privilege of attending several International Women’s Day events this week, including the Moreton Bay Region Industry and Tourism (MBRIT) International Women’s Day Business Luncheon with former Olympians Susie O’Neill, Cathy Freeman and Nicole Livingstone.

These three strong amazing women have achieved a huge amount in their careers. Not only their significant achievements in sport and as Australian Olympians, but as businesswomen and mothers, most impressively redefining themselves many times.

They talked at length about their networks of women and the importance and value of these, but also the value and importance of the male allies and supporters in their lives.

Some of the real gems of knowledge the team shared were:

• “Not every day is a gold medal Olympic day.” Nicole Livingstone
• In relation to looking at new opportunities: “If you feel ready, its likely too late.” Susie O’Neil.
• “Surround yourself with a range of great people.” Nicole Livingstone.
• “Foster a team mindset, never discount anybody, the spark can happen in anyone.” Cathy Freeman.

Parker, Anne, and I (right) also had the opportunity to be involved in a smaller group with Nicole who spoke about her experience of running the AWFL and her amazing tenacity in increasing the uptake and interest in AWFL and improve the conditions for the Women involved, nowhere near equality but far further towards it.

Out and about

This week I had the opportunity to meet with the Paediatric Emergency Department Nurse Practitioners and talk to them about paediatric patient flow and care.

Bec and Mel were amazing to talk to and discussed the breadth, excitement and challenges of their roles where they care for all ages of children who present at the Emergency Department.

We were discussing how we could modify processes for our children and families presenting in the ED to improve and accelerate their progress to the children’s area.

We see approximately 15,000 children, babies and adolescents per year and these Nurse Practitioners play an absolutely vital role in our system providing care and expertise to ensure that they receive the best care.

The great simulation storeroom clean-up!

I also had the opportunity to meet Tammie Perz who joined our education team late last year as Simulation Coordinator. In this catch up I heard about the clean up and saw the outcomes (in fact I was scared I may get hung on a hook to keep the place in order if I stayed too long).

Over the Christmas break, with some support from the Education and BEMs teams, Tammie managed to turn the simulation storeroom from a dumping ground to a functional space with ability to both store and maintain equipment on site.

Tammie and Emma Semmens (a simulation educator who started in January) did not stop there!

They sorted the simulation rooms into an organised space to hold clinical simulations for general and perioperative staff.

Their combined efforts have finally been able to bring to reality components of the simulation action plan with much more to come and providing support across the multidisciplinary space here in CKW.

Key role updates

This week has been very busy with interview processes for both the Director of Medical Services and the Clinical Director Medicine and Older Persons Service Line.

Other key roles that have recruitment in progress include the Clinical Director Emergency, Kilcoy, and Woodford. To ensure we get a broad and competitive pool, this role is going to be further advertised with a specialist recruitment service.

Most people will now know that our Director of Nursing and Midwifery, Ben Ballard has been appointed to the STARS Director of Nursing role, which will provide a great career opportunity for him.

We have just closed the EOI for three months cover and will work through that recruitment process over the next week. We will then advertise this key role on a permanent basis through a recruitment agency to ensure the best candidate pool.

Bribie Island Satellite Hospital roles are also being advertised, being published on career websites, including Smart Jobs. People can also submit an Expression of Interest.

This will include a Clinical Director role for the Caboolture and Bribie Island Satellite Hospitals, Kilcoy, and Woodford. This is an exciting new medical leadership role which will provide visible and accessible medical leadership to these sites and work in partnership with the Assistant Nursing Director role.

It is with sadness that I let you all know that our Nursing Director (Emergency, Kilcoy and Woodford) Tracey McTigue has resigned. Tracey has only been with us for a short time but has played a key role in the transition into the new department and working with the team on changes to models of care that support patient care within the new department.

While sad for us Tracey has been successful in attaining an exciting job and unique opportunity. This role will be advertised via an EOI for temporary cover while we permanently recruit.

We held interviews for the Emergency, Kilcoy, and Woodford Assistant Nursing Director role this week and will be appointed in the next couple of weeks.

We are also looking for a respiratory doctor. Please put the word out amongst your friends and networks and encourage them to apply. The advertisement for the position is available on Smart Jobs.

Finally, advertisements for our new Emergency Management Coordinator role are now live on Smart Jobs and Seek. Please distribute it through your networks.

Safe Patient Care

Although accreditation is over, we cannot ignore those things that we strengthened as we went into accreditation.

We need to remember that accreditation is all about ensuring we are providing the best and safest care to patient. These things that we must keep on our agenda include our Mandatory Training; NSQHS Standards groups; and clinical audits.

Please can I ask you all to check your mandatory training is up to date and for those of you that are managers ensure that you follow up with your teams and provide support to complete them.

If you are a member of a Standard Group – WE NEED YOU!!! – you are on that group because of your knowledge, skills, expertise and passion, these groups are essential to the ongoing success of CKW.

Please prioritise your attendance and if you are having issues getting there because of timing or workload, speak to the chair of the committee or the Safety and Quality team so we can support you in this.

Have you seen your area’s clinical audit results recently? If not, please ask your manager… clinical audits really tells us where we are doing great things and where we have opportunities to improve.

If you are not doing any clinical audits, please let the Safety and Quality team know so they can support – these should be on your Safety and Quality board – if not, ask!

We all come to work to do great things, so let’s make sure we are monitoring the great work we do to safely care for our patients.

It is important that our Standard groups continue and we keep up our A game.

Complaints

I read every complaint that we receive here at CKW. I do this as it provides me with an understanding of our patient experience and where we can improve.

This week, I received a complaint from a patient who was upset that a staff member in uniform has called him a derogatory name when he was smoking. I was really saddened to receive his complaint.

We are so privileged to work in health and be part of a network that has and requires trust to be effective.

I reflected on why someone would do this and whether they realised that:

• Firstly, the staff member put themselves at risk.
• Secondly, their behaviour in our uniform reflects on our organisation and all the staff who work here and their professional group.
• Lastly, they had an opportunity to positively influence the situation and be kind, potentially offer the person the opportunity to talk to staff about quitting or just saying “hello, its hot out here today.”

I always believe that when you can be anything my belief is it is always better to be kind.

This moved me to a reflection on our role as health professionals, we are leaders in our community, and we work with all members of the community and have an obligation to at all times provide the best possible care we can which requires us to work from a non-judgemental perspective.

I have mentioned before that no matter how busy or how hard your day is, it is worse for the patient.

Following on from this, I joined the Health Consumer Network this week for part of their meeting and my reward was the gift of their combined knowledge and expert opinions on how we could do better (and an Easter egg!).

We were discussing ways we might engage patients to share their experiences more broadly with staff. If you have ideas, I would welcome them from you too – please send them through!

In the discussion, two things struck me.

The first – the Consumers Network always catch me on acronyms, something I really challenge you all to focus on as you speak to patients. This week the consumers came up with a strategy of an AMJ – Acronym Money Jar – with proceeds to be donated to a charity, hopefully The Common Good.

What a great idea and I can see I will be a great contributor – but it makes you think, doesn’t it, how much does the patient or family member miss because we are using acronyms that just slip off our tongues?

Additionally, we were talking about the business of hospitals and how busy everyone is … quite often, we are busy being busy!

The consumers really spoke to ‘busy’ which is a triggering word as a patient and I think we would all agree that when you are in a position of needing or wanting something, and someone tells you they are too busy, this does not make you feel valued or happy.

So, my challenge to you from the health consumers group is… your ‘busyness’ is not a benefit to our patients, so can you communicate delays or apologise in a different way?

Caboolture Hospital Redevelopment update

Work is progressing on the refurbishment areas, which is the final stage of the Caboolture Hospital Redevelopment Project. It is important to understand that the refurbishment works are based on the design process that was completed with CKW several years ago and finalised with the builder.

The refurbishment works will occur progressively over the next 12 months with areas planned to come online as per the sequence below. Like with the Clinical Services Building, there may be some movement in timing, but it is important we continue working together to bring services online. The refurbishment areas include:

• Mortuary and Hearse Bay
• Services Block including Supply Department and CHES
• Medical Day Unit and Self Care Dialysis
• Pharmacy
• Pathology
• Transit Lounge
• Central Sterilising Department
• Social Worker Administration
• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services Unit
• Community Connect
• Medical Records
• Day Chemotherapy Unit
• Neonatal Unit
• Biomedical Technology Services area

There will also be further work to complete the external areas at the front of the hospital, the linkways between the buildings and our internal corridors.

Finally, the Level 3 cold shell in the Clinical Services Building is a CHRP project area only. This area has not been handed over to Caboolture Hospital and cannot be used for daily business as it has not been certified for this purpose.

This includes storing equipment or using the area as a working space. If you have any further questions about the Level 3 cold shell, please contact Caboolture_Projects@health.qld.gov.au.

Have you seen our temporary CSD?

A temporary modular Central Sterilising Department (CSD) has been craned in and set up between the Mental Health Short Stay Unit and the Executive Buildings (where the Common Good dark kitchen used to be).

Over the coming months, our CSD team will have to move out of their current location on Level 2 and into this temporary CSD to allow the builders to finish refurbishment works as part of the redevelopment project.

By having this temporary CSD, we are able to maintain service delivery by maintaining onsite sterilising services.

Our CSD team will not have to move off site or work in other CSD departments to deliver reusable medical devices to the hospital.

CHRP will provide more information about the temporary relocation and what it means for us in the coming weeks.

Cultural Support After Hours expansion trial

A reminder that the CKW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services – Indigenous Hospital Liaison Officer and Senior Health Workers trial continues. We are expanding our Cultural Support After Hours service on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays until Friday 29 March.

I am already hearing some great feedback that our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and families are appreciating the increased support.

Disability Services Action Plan launch

People with a disability live in a world that most of us can only imagine.

We can make modifications to smooth the path for people with disability accessing our services.

On Monday (11 March) from 10am, join Chief Executive Jackie Hanson, Chief Allied Health Practitioner Mark Butterworth, and Disability Program Director Shannon Dawson to launch Metro North’s Disability Services Action Plan. Join the vidcast.

I also encourage everyone to attend the Caboolture launch of the Metro North Disability Action Week launch in the Clinical Services Building courtyard on Thursday (14 March) from 9am to 11am.

Come and enjoy a musical performance, light refreshments and the opportunity to hear about experiences of others who live with disability.

For more details, visit this QHEPS page to see a copy of the plan and other key details.

Join us at the Staff Expo!

Have you been meaning to arrange your salary sacrifice? Need to update details with your super fund? Thinking about leasing a car?

You will be able to do that and much more at the annual Metro North Staff Expo. Speak directly with staff benefit suppliers and providers. The full list of attendees is available here.

No need to register just come and visit the Expo on Monday (11 March) from 11am to 2pm at the Caboolture Hospital Lecture Theatre.

HR Fundamentals courses

One of the key focus areas for Metro North’s People and Culture team is to support employees with continuous learning and growth.

To achieve this, the team has developed a calendar of education focusing on key topics, delivered virtually on Microsoft Teams.  In March, coaching sessions will be available on:

• Industrial Framework and Line Manager Decision Making
• Challenging conversations
• Absence Management
• Health Management

These courses are aimed at managers in health and are great for managers in health. I recommend making time available in your calendar to complete them.

Registration is via the Talent Management System (TMS) – search HR Fundamentals and follow the prompts.

A great news story!

The Metro North Facebook page includes a great story on a local family who spend 255 days in four hospitals, including Caboolture.

They were finally able to go home with daughter Lorelai.

The post has had a great response from our community!

Make sure you give it a like!

Reflection of the week:

As I reflect on the week, I want to repeat one of the quotes above from the International Women’s Day lunch I attended:

“Foster a team mindset, never discount anybody, the spark can happen in anyone.” Cathy Freeman.

It has really made me think and reflect on how important it is that we truly, authentically and kindly assess and recognise the contribution, skills, ability and capability of everyone in our team and who we care for.

We, in our roles, both professionally and personally, need to think about how we open doors for people and welcome them in and then provide the tools to be successful.

Please, as it is International Women’s Day, take the opportunity to thank those women around you for what they add to your life and also thank those men who act as our allies so we can be the best we can.

Quote

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Maya Angelou