Message from the Executive Director

Glynis Schultz, Executive Director

Any challenge we face is an opportunity to see how many great people we have across our directorate.

I have seen so many extraordinary people in COH and I am always sincerely grateful for your efforts, compassion and work.

This week I would like to acknowledge our Central Patient Intake Unit and Central Referral Unit teams who have been buckling down to manage the number of referrals coming through.

And, more broadly I want to thank the many services across COH who are going that extra mile, services such as the Aged Care Assessment Team who are working through a significant increase in demand.

I am grateful for the COH spirit that sees you step up time and again whether it’s a seasonal response, demand issues across the whole HHS or supporting each other through service improvements and technical implementations.

Thank you!

Our commitment towards Health Equity

At COH we continue to be committed to Health Equity.

A Community and Oral Health staff gathering is being held for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander identified staff members.

This staff gathering will be held on:

Friday 15 March
10.00 am to 12:30 pm
19^th Ave meeting room at Brighton.

If you would like to attend or have questions please email coh-a_tsi_hlthteam@health.qld.gov.au by Friday March 8.

Some great appointments in 2024

With the the year well and truly in full swing I would like to take the time to acknowledge some important clinical appointments which will greatly enhance the care we provide across our services.

Congratulations to:

Dr Bill Lukin, Clinical Director, Palliative Care
Dr Pallavi Bansal, Clinical Director, Rehabilitation
Dr Tarini Singh, Director CAOHS and COHS
Dr June Chia, Clinical Director, General and Geriatric Medicine
Dr Clair Sullivan, Clinical Lead, Community Diabetes
Dr Kanthi Vemuri, Infectious Diseases Physician.

Compliment – Life changing experience through HAART

While the Healthy Aging Assessment and Rehabilitation Team (HAART) service located at the Kallangur Satellite Hospital is only a few months old the outcomes we see daily are significant.

Following a 70 year-old patient’s presentation to the Minor Injury and Illness Clinic with severe pain following a fall the HAART team sprung into action.

A rapid next day Occupational Therapist assessment was done in the home, and the client was provided with the following:

Shower and toilet frames and aids to improve safety and stability of transfers and ease pain
Four wheeled walker to improve access to home and reduce risk of falls when exiting and entering his home.

At the end of the visit the client reported:

“There are so many things where you need to make an appointment, call around, get a referral or wait for someone but the fact you walked up to me and offered all this help is great.

“You’ve changed my life in less than 24 hours and we can’t thank you enough.”

Community Services ESM Project update

From next week (Wednesday 28 February 2024) the Community Services Enterprise Scheduling Management (ESM) Go-Live and HyperCare Support functions will transition to business-as-usual (BAU) processes and teams.

For any staff who needs support during business hours, Monday to Friday, please contact the Community and Oral Health (COH) Systems Support team via email at: COH-Systems_Support@health.qld.gov.au or phone at: (07) 3049 1307.

Otherwise, for after-hours support needs, log a job online with IT Support or call 1800 198 175. If the matter is impacting clinical care or services, press #1 for clinical prioritisation of the IT support call.

I would like to thank everyone for their patience and persistence in enabling the successful implementation of ESM across Community Services. While there have been challenges everyone has stayed positive and displayed the utmost professionalism in helping minimise any impacts.

Clinical nurse Paula standing in front of Community Health sign Once the transition to BAU for ESM is completed next week, we can enjoy a short breather before readying ourselves for the implementation of the full integrated electronic Medical Record (ieMR) suite on 15 May 2024.

Further information about ieMR will be communicated by our Metro North Health ieMR Program colleagues shortly.

A final shout out

Clinical nurse Paula is part of the post-acute care team at Caboolture where she tends to wound care needs after a patient has been discharged from hospital.

Paula will see various types of wounds from an abscess to very complex wounds such as toe or partial foot amputations or large open wounds that cannot be closed which requires specialist types of wound treatment.