Louise Oriti
We continue to work our way through a very busy period. Thank you to everyone working together to care for our patients and support each other.
Along with our ongoing strong clinical demand, we’re now seeing an increase in COVID-19 and other illnesses among our hospital workforce. In the last week alone, we’ve seen the number of staff unable to attend work for COVID-19 reasons double. This week, I’ve been one of them.
With COVID-19 and flu both widespread in our community, I remind everyone, do not come to work if you are sick. This includes any respiratory symptoms that could be COVID-19 or the flu. As busy as our workplace is right now, we may do more harm than good when we come to work unwell and spread illness among our colleagues.
While talking about COVID-19 and the flu, a reminder that flu vaccinations for staff are still available from our Infection Prevention team, and that we all need to upload evidence of our COVID-19 boosters.
Beds
To help us maintain safe patient care, we’ve added to our bed capacity (when staffing permits) by standing up overnight beds in 2West (otherwise known as the Day Procedure Unit) and by using clinical bed space in Medical Imaging during weekdays. These temporary spaces are on top of those additional beds we’ve secured under an arrangement with Peninsula Private Hospital. These additional bed spaces are helping to keep patient flow moving as well as possible from the Emergency Department.
Metro North Virtual ED
Another way that Metro North is helping to support our Emergency Department this winter is with the Virtual ED. The Virtual ED provides an alternative emergency care pathway for patients who need urgent care but are not experiencing a life-threatening emergency. These patients receive the clinical attention they need without physically attending the hospital’s busy Emergency Department.
Metro North’s Virtual ED has been around since April 2020 as part of our COVID-19 response. Now, it’s helping reduce the number of face-to-face presentations to Metro North Emergency Departments each day. Services like this are a win-win that provide patients with a faster and more flexible way to receive care while leaving our Emergency Departments for those who really need to be there.
I encourage everyone to look at the Virtual ED portal and learn more about how this service can work for our patients this winter.
REDDY Fun Run
Sadly, I was unwell and unable to participate this year – but I’m told the REDDY Fun Run was a big success. Rhonda Neal and the REDDY Fun and Fitness team worked with the Redcliffe Hospital Auxiliary to organise the event, which raised more than $12,000. The Redcliffe Hospital Auxiliary will use those funds on projects that benefit and support our patients.
Congratulations to Dr Anthony Houston, who won the 21-kilometre run, and to Oliver Haug and Jacob Reed from Occupational Therapy for their wins in the ten-kilometre and five-kilometre events.
Have Your Say Staff Survey update
One of the big themes we heard in our Have Your Say Staff Survey results was the need for more attention to our psychological safety. As part of our response to this, Amanda Brimson and the HR team have arranged a series of sessions led by experts from MinterEllison. On Monday afternoon, there will be a Special Staff Forum session for all staff to join. Look for the link to that session in your Outlook calendar.
Another message we heard loud and clear from the survey was about the need to better train our leaders, supervisors and managers. Our facility and administrative services teams have responded to this by arranging a series of workshops aimed at skilling up their team leaders with the kind of practical leadership skills that help make our workplaces better for everyone.
Lastly this week, around a third of eligible hospital staff are still yet to access their unused COVID response leave. COVID-response leave was a one-off allocation of two additional leave days granted to health workers in 2020. Those leave days must be taken before 9 September or be lost. Taking leave is an essential aspect of our wellbeing, and we do better work when we care for ourselves and each other. #IamRedcliffe.
Louise Oriti
Executive Director
Redcliffe Hospital