Louise Oriti

Today I attended a Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) presentation around emergency surgery. This presentation compared Redcliffe Hospital with others in Queensland Health. I was again struck by how effective our surgical service is – especially considering the high volume of emergency surgery performed here.

We should all be very proud of our surgical team and all the staff that contribute to patient care. I look forward to sharing more specifics about this when the report becomes available.

COVID-19 and flu

This latest wave of COVID-19, combined with flu and other traditional winter illnesses, continues to put a lot of pressure on our hospital. From what we’re hearing, it’s likely that we won’t reach the peak of this wave until some time in August.

At Redcliffe Hospital and across Metro North, we remain at Tier 3 of our new COVID-19 and Influenza Response Plan 2022. N95 masks and eye protection remain essential for all staff entering or working in clinical areas – including the Main Building.

There have been more changes this week around things like access to antivirals, fourth COVID-19 vaccination boosters, and isolation advice. To help understand where things are headed, I strongly recommend the Winter Demand VIDCAST series with Dr Krispin Hajkowicz from the RBWH. Those sessions have been recorded and are available on QHEPS.

Along with COVID-19, flu is also having a big impact on our hospital community. If you’re still yet to receive your free flu vaccination, it’s not too late. For the next few weeks, flu vaccinations will be available for hospital staff from Pharmacy on Fridays between 11am and Noon. Call Infection Prevention on 7546 for more details.

Have Your Say Staff Survey update

One of the big messages we heard in the Have Your Say Staff Survey was the need to improve our psychological safety at work. As part of our response, Amanda Brimson and the HR team arranged sessions with experts from MinterEllison, exploring how we can all make our workplace safer for each other. Those sessions were very well attended, and there’s now a recorded session available for those who couldn’t join.  

Redcliffe Hospital Expansion

Last week we were fortunate to have Queensland Health Minister at the hospital to talk more about the $1.06 billion Redcliffe Hospital Expansion announced as part of this year’s State Budget.

The Health Minister said that the expansion would include:

• a new ambulatory care building, to be operational in the second half of 2026,
• a new clinical services building to be operational in the second half of 2027, and
• a refurbishment of the existing hospital building to be completed in the second half of 2028.

The expansion will also provide 204 new beds, additional operating theatres, Emergency Department treatment spaces, endoscopy rooms, birthing suites, outpatient consultation areas, and an expansion of medical imaging, pharmacy and pathology. Read more about that announcement.

With delivery timeframes now established, our lead clinicians and hospital leaders are already working through concept designs with the project’s architects and consultants. As part of this work, there will be more meetings and workshops over the next few weeks where we will make some significant decisions for our hospital’s future. We will also be running a Special Staff Forum soon where everyone can find out more and ask important questions.

Q-Flow rollout

Thank you to everyone who supported the rollout of Q-Flow over the past two weeks with positivity and a can-do attitude. The new system went live last Tuesday in the Main Building and the rollout continued this week in other outpatient areas, like North Block and MBICC.

Research Symposium

Each year we showcase the depth and variety of research being undertaken at Redcliffe Hospital at our Redcliffe Hospital Research Symposium. Earlier this week, Dr Joel Dulhunty and the research team put out a call for presentations to feature in this year’s Symposium. If you’ve been involved in a research project this year, please talk to Joel about how you can share what your team has been achieving.

Lastly this week, nominations opened on Monday for this year’s Redcliffe Hospital Staff Excellence Awards. With so many staff bringing their A-game and inspiring others to do the same right now, I’m expecting plenty of strong nominations this year.

Louise Oriti
Executive Director
Redcliffe Hospital