Following on from Easter it has been another exciting week at CKW.  We have seen extreme demand for our services across the state, network, and our services at CKW, with both CKW and Metro North being on a Tier 3.  As you will all be seeing in your services.

Of course this led on to a very busy week for all our services with many patients needing admission and care.  I want to thank all our staff who have gone above and beyond and worked outside their normal duties, our staff who have come off study days or non-clinical time to focus on patient care; our Nurse Education team who have opened areas to care for patients; and our managers and leaders across medicine, allied health and nursing who have worked clinically rather than doing their other work; our operational, cleaning and food services staff who have come together to ensure our hospital runs like clockwork and our patients are moved and receive food in a timely manner.

Thank you for your ongoing commitment to provide kind, compassionate, quality and timely care to our patients and their families.  I truly value this commitment and have observed with awe this dedication to our community and each other.

Metro North Board

I would like to welcome the new Metro North Board, which officially started work on Monday.

Bernard Curran has been appointed as the new Board Chair. Bernard has been a member of the Metro North Board since 2018, coming from an accountancy and consultancy background.  I have had the pleasure of meeting Bernard on a number of occasions, and I really look forward to introducing him to the CKW team as the Chair.  I have always found Bernard really interested in what our teams are doing and how the board can support us in achieving the best patient care and meeting our community’s needs.

There are six new members: Linda Lavarch, Dr Peter Aitken, Dr Shea Spierings, Dr Poya Sobhanian, Aimee McVeigh and the Honourable Jane Prentice.

• Ms Linda Lavarch and Honourable Jane Prentice have both had active  roles in politics.
• Dr Peter Aitken played a key role for Queensland Health during the pandemic, including serving as Chief Health Officer.
• Dr Spierings is a Board Member of Health and Wellbeing Queensland. He is also a Research Fellow at the University of Queensland specialising in Indigenous health.
• Dr Sobhanian brings relevant experience, including the Central Queensland Hospital and Health Board.
• Ms McVeigh comes from a legal background and is currently the CEO of the Queensland Council of Social Services.

These new board members will join Ms Nermina (Nera) Komaric, Mr Adrian Carson and Dr Melissa (Meg) Cairns who are continuing their terms on the board. It is always an exciting time with a new board as we get to showcase our services.

Local Members visit CKW

This week I also welcomed our local MPs and electorate officers to CKW. The purpose of the meeting was to provide an update on CKW and build relationships with our local members who support the community.

I was joined by David Thompson and David Walker (who is the Metro North Executive Director of Sustainable Assets and Infrastructure) and together we spoke about CKW’s journey, our achievements and the delivery and operationalisation of great infrastructure projects like the CSB and the satellite hospitals.

Community leaders all have an important role in advocacy and can be a valuable source of information to patients, their families and carers.

I was honoured to talk with State Member for Bancroft Chris Whiting MP, State Member for Pumicestone Ali King MP and her electorate officer Olivia D’Rozario. Also in attendance were electorate officer Rachel Smith representing Premier Steven Miles State Member for Murrumba and Leanne Mogridge representing  State Member for Kurwongbah Shane King.

We spoke about CKW’s role in the community not only as a trusted health care provider, but also as an employer of choice, a centre of research excellence and an advocate for health equity.

Unfortunately, I only had a 60-minute meeting and although it stretched a little over this time there were so many other achievements that I wanted to share with them.

We did finish our meeting by popping down to emergency department where the team led by acting logistics nurse Sammy welcomed Local MP Ali King (and the food she was delivering). We had a chance to also discuss how we focused on flow to ensure best care for our community.

As I reflect on my past 76 working days at CKW, I find key themes reoccurring in all my conversations:

• Delivery of kind and compassionate care (a team that really cares)
• Having resilience in everything that we do (a team that is focused on achieving great care even when the pressure is on)
• Being innovative to allow us to be more agile and responsive (a team that is flexible, professional and fun)
• CKW is a great place to work!

I spoke on these themes with our guests and I was honest and transparent about the challenges that face us. Overwhelmingly though, it was a great story to share – thank you all for your part in it.

CKW’s emerging position and reputation can’t be defined by one grand accomplishment, but rather the cumulative effect of everyone making small consistent efforts. I was very proud to talk about our CKW team and all our efforts.

Leadership advice

I received an ‘Ask Karlene’ question last weekend which made me stop and reflect. At this time of year, I think one of the greatest gifts we can receive is time to reflect. Phil from Mental Health asked for my best leadership advice, best leadership training and best leader.

My best leadership advice?

Be You – Authenticity
Be Transparent – Integrity
Be humble – Kindness/Compassion
Be Strong – Brave/Bold
Be Consistent – Stability
Be Present – Be there!
Live to Learn.

Best leadership training?

Every day is learning, it is important to be open to that and humble enough to understand that. I have been lucky enough to have many formal and informal learning opportunities. However, my Executive MBA was amazing, especially the study tour, in which I got to learn about other cultures and people. One of the most amazing courses I did was The Leadership Edge Workshop, a Human Interaction Laboratory with Ian Brooks in New Zealand.

This was an immersive learning experience that challenged you to learn about yourself and use the Enneagram to create a common language.  It was an amazing course but intense and at times confronting building self-awareness and resilience.

Best leader?

I have been lucky in work and life to have many great leaders around me. I think one of our modern-day great leaders was Jacinda Arden and the more I have read about Julia Gillard, the more I respect her.
Jacinda showed true compassion in leadership which I really valued as she dealt with the terrible events in her tenure as Prime Minister.  I became intrigued with Julia when I went to Canberra and saw her Prime Minister photo. It was a headshot and as I read, I realised what a strong woman she was and how she led with bravery and resilience, something we all need in leadership roles.

I think in admiring leaders and learning from them, it is important to me that I learn from people who manage things with authenticity and transparency, are brave and kind – I do not always have to share their views, opinions or focus. I appreciate Brene Brown and one of my favourite leadership quotes of hers is “Strong back, soft front, and wild/kind heart.”

Thanks for the questions, Phil. I hope these answers are food for thought to everyone. I would like to hear your answers as well. Please email them to me.

Tracy Grant leads from experience

I had the opportunity to do a leadership round with Tracy Grant  recently and as we stopped to chat in front of our Torres Strait Island map Tracy proudly showed me the Island she is from called Boigu. It was such an interesting story and I am so grateful to Tracy for sharing it with me. I thought we would showcase her in this message as a true leader in our team.

Tracy is our CKW Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services Manager, and leads our work towards achieving Health Equity by 2031.

Tracy is both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

“My mum is Aboriginal and my dad is from the Torres Strait – I grew up in North Queensland near Cairns and spent a lot of my childhood on Thursday Island,” Tracy said.

“For me, it’s about making sure that we promote the identity of two cultures – the Aboriginal culture as well as the Torres Strait,”

“When we identify patients, we ask them: ‘Are you Aboriginal or Torres Strait Island origin?’ so we want this to be consistent across everything,”

“Having the identification of two cultures makes patients feel safe and welcome and gives better health outcomes.”

Staff movements

CKW Acting Director Nursing and Midwifery Sam Schefe. Sam will join us on Monday. He will be in the role for three months while a permanent recruitment process is underway. He joins us from the Nursing Director Workforce and Innovation role at Community and Oral Health. It will be great to have you with us, Sam.

Acting Nursing Director Paediatrics – Kylie Sykes. Kylie will also join us on Monday. Kylie has been TPCH Children’s Ward Nurse Unit Manager. She brings a wealth of experience from TPCH which we will all benefit from. She also starts on Monday. Welcome, Kylie!

This role is a project role focused with our teams on progressing a large body of work across our paediatric services to really cement Paediatrics as a speciality service for children and adolescents in our community.  We will keep you updated on the progression over the next few months.

Recruitment

We have several senior roles available at present. Please share these opportunities with your networks. Click on the links below for the Smart Jobs advertisement:

• Clinical Director Gastroenterology
• Senior Staff Specialist / Staff Specialist Paediatrics
• Emergency Department Senior House Officer
• Emergency Department Registrar / Principal House Officer
• Senior Staff Specialist or Staff Specialist Mental Health Alcohol and Drugs Services

Of course we continue to recruit to Bribie Island Satellite Hospital.

Join the CKW Clinical Council

CKW Clinical Council Chair Dr Lisa Kane works at Caboolture Hospital as a Senior Paediatrician with the Paediatric Unit and the University of Queensland Clinical Site Coordinator.

In her clinical role, her focus is on ensuring high quality health care for infants, children and adolescents to reduce health inequities and in the long-term reduce the burden on the health care system by getting it right in the first 2000 days.

As an educator with a Masters in Clinical Education and National Examiner for the RACP, she is passionate about education of medical staff from students to SMOs, as well as supporting multi-disciplinary education locally and further afield.

Lisa (right) is now overseeing the introduction of new post-graduate Doctor of Medicine course at Caboolture Hospital with students to spend their second, third and fourth year in clinical placements at Caboolture Hospital.

She is a member of the Integrated Children’s Care Collaborative (ICCC) looking into cost-effective integrated care solutions to solve the dilemma of fragmented access to services for children with non-complex medical conditions.

In 2023, the ICCC won the Metro North Research Excellence Award for Complex Heath Challenges.

She joined the CKW Clinical Council in 2021 and stepped into the role of Chair in 2023. This has coincided with the expansion of the Caboolture Hospital service with the opening of the Clinical Services Building and upgrades to existing health facilities.

The Clinical Council will be assisting with the expanded health care delivery and supporting the staff of the CKW Directorate to maintain our highly quality of care.

The CKW Clinical Council is keen to welcome any staff member to join. A meeting is held each month and support at CKW Clinical Council sponsored events is encouraged.  This committee is an important committee to me,  as it is the voice of the staff informing our way forward. Please consider this if you are keen to be actively involved in strategies to progress our services and service delivery.

For more details, visit the CKW Clinical Council QHEPS page.

Between her work and other commitments, Lisa is also training for the Gold Coast half-marathon this year. Good luck!

Connie’s big adventure

Did you know that Metro North Health also looks after medical services on Norfolk Island?

Norfolk Island is an external territory of Australia and is located on the Pacific Ocean between New Zealand and New Caledonia. With a population of over 2,000 people it, reflects a truly interesting history that is rich in cultures from the first Polynesian settlers as well as those who followed.

CKW Assistant Director of Nursing Ambulatory Care and Education Connie Gray recently visited Norfolk Island to deliver paediatric education.

Although the Norfolk Island service has Clinical Skills Development Service support, Connie had to take clinical teaching tools with her as there were no paediatric mannequins on the island.

I’m sure that led to some interesting conversations when checking in for her flights, given her suitcase had two bodies among other interesting things!

Seven staff from Norfolk Island attended the training over the two days (two doctors and five nursing staff). They covered topics from catheter insertion in the neonate through to management of anaphylaxis and arrest.

Connie said she had time to enjoy a variety of Norfolk Island scenery and commented: “it was great experience with a great team, I would love the opportunity to offer further support across a variety of platforms into the future.” Well done Connie.

Patient meals and feedback about the placemat

Congratulations to Ward 2A Administration Officer Taylah Rosbrook and Clinical Nurse Sheree Molles, who on seeing the new RBWH placemat for improving meal delivery and ordering initiative saw an opportunity to not only adapt it but improve in for Caboolture Hospital.

The placemat was an initiative to ensure meals could be delivered to a spot on the patients tray table that they could access their food easily.  Taylah and Sheree saw the benefit in this but then worked with the Consumer Liaison Team (CLO)  to add an additional benefit.  This was to add a QR Code which allows patients to provide compliments and complaints. The CLO will monitor response rates from Ward 2A patients over the next month to determine the feedback.

What a fantastic initiative which is helping provide great care for our patients, ensuring they get fed and opportunity to provide feedback on their care. Well done and thank you.

Have Your Say action plan – get involved

Have you seen your unit’s Have Your Say results? Ask your manager or look on your noticeboard to find them. These are very important in improving our culture and all units should now have or be working on an action plan focused on these results.

It is important that your unit/area action plans are developed with you and your team and that you actively work with these action plans to improve our work and team cultures!

I would love to hear some of your strategies and achievements so please:

• Send them to me on Ask Karlene
• Invite me up to see or hear from your team
• Stop and grab me, or talk to me when you see me

Last week, the Metro North Health Employee Engagement Action Plan 2023-25 was launched, which is in direct response to the most recent Have Your Say survey results. It aims to significantly increase employee satisfaction over the next 12 months.

Read the launch message from Jackie Hanson and Raelene Burke.

Four key focus areas have been identified in the action plan with 21 initiatives sitting underneath. People and Culture have put an EOI call out for employees across Metro North to be involved in one of 10 action groups which will co-design some these important projects.

I encourage you to read more about all the action groups and take this opportunity to be part of a diverse team who aim to effect real culture change for all Metro North employees.

The first action groups commencing soon are:

• PDPs: how can we do these better?
• Leading by example
• Supporting people through unplanned leave
• Creating better career pathways for our admin and ops staff

Find out more on QHEPS.

CKW Nursing and Midwifery Grand Rounds

Central Queensland University Nursing Academic Partner Dr Shannon Dhollande will be at CKW Nursing and Midwifery Grand Rounds on Tuesday to present her research into Interventional care for female victim-survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV).

Emergency Departments (ED) may be a first point of contact with formal healthcare services for many female victim-survivors of IPV.

It is within the safety of healthcare settings that these female victim-survivors are likely to disclose their victimisation experiences. Whilst many victim-survivors experience physical injury, psychological deterioration requiring support from mental health services is also prevalent.

A review was undertaken of patient charts to explore the patients journey from their arrival, including emergency care, mental care and referrals through to their departure from the ED (either discharge or admittance to other wards outside of the ED).

This event will be held on Tuesday (9 April) from 2.30pm-3.15pm at the Caboolture Hospital Lecture Theatre. It will also be available on Microsoft Teams. Nursing and Midwifery staff are encouraged to attend. Staff from other areas are also very welcome.

Celebrating our Quality of Care

 The Quality of Care Snapshot 2022/23 showcases Metro North Health achievements over the past 12 months to patients, partners, consumers and carers.  It’s available on-line.

Reflection of the week

Wow what another full week at CKW. As we head towards the end of a very busy week I want to end with a thank you to you all … I noted at the beginning of this message how much community demand we have for our services,  and I really appreciate all the hard work that goes into providing the best care.

The way we achieve such great things is to pull in as a team, to break down silo’s and to look after each other on our journey. Please remember this when you are asked to do something that you feel should be someone else’s job or if you feel you are being asked to do something different.

When we are managing such a high demand we have to work together, we have to work differently and do different things and sometimes we have to adapt to do the best for all our patients rather than the best for one or one group of patients.

This is sometimes a hard thing as you as clinicians are managing the patient in front of you and others are asking things of you who are managing the system.

Again, thank you, I feel so privileged to lead this team.

Quote

“Alone, we can do so little, together, we can do so much.” Helen Keller

Regards,

Karlene.