Louise Oriti, Executive Director, Redcliffe Hospital
I know it’s only the end of October, but planning and preparation are well underway for the happiest time of the year at Redcliffe Hospital. Returning to business as usual means we’ll be more free this year to enjoy our usual Christmas calendar of events that help us to celebrate the big things, the small things, the good things with our patients and each other.
Here are some of those good things that we have to look forward to:
St Vincent De paul Christmas Appeal
We’ve been running a St Vincent De paul Christmas Appeal at Redcliffe Hospital since 2013, and I know how important it is to many staff. I also know how big an impact it has locally. Last year, the appeal helped 48 local families to celebrate a brighter Christmas. This year’s appeal is being coordinated by REDDY Fun & Fitness, and we expect the collection date for donations will be Friday, 9 December, but we’ll confirm that with everyone ahead of time. We’re asking wards, units and work areas to sign up for the appeal by clicking here.
Volunteers Christmas Lunch
One of the ways that we say thank you to show our appreciation to our hospital’s volunteer community is with our annual Volunteers Christmas Lunch. That lunch will be on Friday, 25 November, in the Education Centre for all of our Auxiliary members, chaplains, Redcliffe Hospital Volunteers, and justice of the peace volunteers to enjoy.
Christmas Decoration Competition
Our Christmas Decoration Competition will be back again this year, with the theme “Summer Christmas – it’s going to be hot!”. The competition doesn’t start until Thursday, 1 December, and details on how to enter the competition will be available soon. Now’s the time to be talking with your colleagues to plan your winning entry.
CHO back at Redcliffe
We welcomed the Chief Health Officer, Dr John Gerrard, back to Redcliffe Hospital this week. The CHO is visiting a number of Metro North hospitals, talking with clinicians about the best way forward around things like masks in hospitals and how things may change over the coming months.
At his request, we arranged for Dr Gerrard to spend some time with our Infectious Diseases team, in the Emergency Department, and up in Ward 6 East. Nursing Director Keith Von Dohren was with the CHO during this visit and told me the CHO was very engaged with staff, listening to their experiences and the challenges they overcame in responding to COVID at Redcliffe Hospital.
Dr Gerrard is no stranger to the hospital either, having helped welcome this year’s medical interns back in January. Thank you to everyone to assisted and made time to meet with Dr Gerrard during his visit.
Acting Director of Medical Services
We say a big thank you to Dr Rosalind Crawford for her time with us as our Acting Director of Medical Services. Dr Crawford finishes up with us at Redcliffe this afternoon. Next week, we’ll welcome Dr Amanda Dines OAM back to the hospital as our Acting DMS until Dr Kellie Wren joins us from Gold Coast HHS in early 2023.
Innovative echo proposal
Allied Health Director Geoff Grima shared some encouraging news in our Managers Forum this week about our echo service. Currently, the service is available two days a week, based out of the Medical Imaging Department. Recognising that the service is under considerable demand and how that impacts patient safety and patient flow, the team has come up with an innovative proposal that the hospital is working through.
The proposal is to effectively double the capacity of the service by adding two additional days operating out of a room on Level 4. It’s expected this will improve patient flow too, with many of the patients requiring the service referred from MAU on Level 4.
At the moment, it’s still just a proposal, but it’s another good example of nursing and allied health teams collaborating, our strong focus on improving patient flow, and how we’re pushing ahead with innovative ideas that are worth exploring.
The week ahead
Looking at what’s on next week, there’s no doubt that we’re fully back to business as usual.
On Monday, everyone is invited to join Amanda Brimson and her team for the October People & Culture Forum from 11am on Teams. In this session, you’ll meet the Values in Action team and learn more about the workshops available that can help us all make Redcliffe Hospital a truly great place to work.
Next Thursday, we’re also holding another Yarning Circle, led by our Cultural Capability Officer, Elwyn Henaway. Elwyn will be yarning with our Indigenous Health Liaison Officers and Indigenous Nurse Navigator. Our Yarning Circles are an important aspect of our Reconciliation Action Plan and our Health Equity journey. If you can, please join us on Teams from Noon next Thursday.
Thank you to everyone for their extremely hard work again this week.
Louise Oriti
Executive Director
Redcliffe Hospital