Louise O’Riordan
A/Executive Director
Redcliffe Hospital

Tuesday was a big day for Redcliffe Hospital. Along with hosting the Metro North Board, we held our first Health Equity workshop.

That workshop was a milestone in our Health Equity journey. Thank you to everyone who took part to meet and yarn on how clinicians and hospital leaders can improve the care our  Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients receive.

In taking this next step on our Health Equity journey, we’re building on the solid foundations laid by our Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group.

We still have a long way to go, but we’re in a good position thanks to the willingness of our hospital staff to play their part in closing the gap.

In the coming weeks, there will be opportunities for everyone to get even more involved, especially our clinicians, as we embed Health Equity into our day-to-day business.

It’s a journey that we are all on together.

Queensland Adult Specialist Immunisation Service (QASIS)

You may have heard about Metro North’s Queensland Adult Specialist Immunisation Service (QASIS) during our COVID-19 response.  During that response phase, this specialist team assisted hundreds of Queenslanders with complex medical conditions to receive COVID-19 vaccinations. Now, the service has evolved and expanded to provide advice on a range of vaccinations in the National Immunisation Program.

QASIS work with patients who have previously had an adverse event following immunisation, are at risk of a significant adverse event, have an underlying complex medical condition, or are unable to be vaccinated in a primary healthcare setting and require post-immunisation supervision in a hospital environment.

Redcliffe Hospital clinicians are asked to consider whether they have patients who may benefit from this service. If so, please find out more on the QASIS website.

Mandatory March has started

Mandatory March is here.

Mandatory March is our whole of hospital campaign encouraging all staff to check their TMS and take action to update and complete their mandatory training.

During Mandatory March, the Skills Development Centre is running sessions for those needing to update their Basic Life Support (BLS) and Patient Handling training. Mandatory March is also the perfect time to make sure your N95 fit test certification is current as well. Make a booking for fit testing.

It’s up to each of us to ensure that our mandatory training is current. If you need help with this, or if something is preventing you from updating your training, please talk to your line manager.

March into March

REDDY Fun and Fitness is helping everyone to get active this March with the 10,000 Steps Challenge. There are weekly challenges, and an overall winner will be announced at the end of the month.

If you’re up for the challenge, step forward.

Short notice accreditation assessment

Many of you will remember our last ACHS accreditation, where Redcliffe received a favourable assessment. If you do, you’ll also remember the months of work we put into preparing for accreditation assessment.

Our next accreditation assessment will work differently, and it’s coming any time after 1 July. This time, we’ll receive only 24 hours’ notice of assessors coming to the hospital. It’s called short notice accreditation assessment and it means we’ll be assessed against the eight national standards for how we really are in any average week.

Short notice accreditation assessment is something we should welcome. After all, at Redcliffe Hospital, we do the right thing even when no one is looking.

Louise.