Dale Dally-Watkins, Acting Executive Director
National Reconciliation Week
This week is National Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June). The theme this year encourages all Australians to Be a Voice for Generations and act today for a more just, equitable and reconciled country for all.
I hope during this week you had time to reflect on how we all can contribute, as individuals and as the STARS’ community, to ending racism, improve health equity, and the health and wellbeing of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. I would like to thank all our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff members who help us provide care every day and importantly help us increase our knowledge and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander challenges and issues.
Have Your Say Survey
So far almost 6,000 Metro North staff have provided feedback in the Have your Say survey. STARS has achieved a 37% response rate, so we are well on our way to the 60% target. The survey remains open until 9 June, so please take some time to complete it if you can. We’re really keen to hear about your experience at STARS; both what we do well and what we can improve. The survey is confidential and will take 20 minutes to complete. Please be reassured that although you provide your payroll ID when you log in, this information is removed by the third-party survey provider and no identifying information is shared with Metro North. You’ll have received an email with a link to the survey (also check your junk mail inbox) or you can find the link on QHEPS. There are also notices and posters around STARS with a QR code.
Short-notice accreditation
Last week, Metro North’s Chief Executive Jackie Hanson announced a change to the way short-notice accreditation will be rolled out. Instead of all Metro North hospitals and directorates being assessed together, accreditation will occur directorate by directorate. This doesn’t change the fact that STARS still needs to be ready for accreditation assessment any time from 1 July this year.
In preparation for short notice accreditation, we had a team from across Metro North undertake a Peer Review (mock accreditation). Thank you to our Safety and Quality team for preparing for this and for all of you who helped us prepare or met and spoke with our reviewers. We’ll share the results with you when we have more information, but overall STARS did very well.
To help everyone prepare for short notice accreditation assessment, Metro North has a series of vidcasts focusing on each of the national standards. There are three more vidcasts to come, including:
- Preventing and controlling infections – 10am Monday, 12 June Join the vidcast
- Blood management – 1pm Wednesday, 28 June Join the vidcast
- Communicating for safety – 11am Friday, 30 June Join the vidcast
Acute Respiratory Illness response
With the start of winter comes an increase in respiratory illnesses. As part of Metro North’s Acute Respiratory Illness (ARI) Tiered Response Plan, masks and PPE as per the matrix are now required for all clinical areas (including all areas in which patient care or patient interaction occurs). P2/N95 masks are required when caring for suspected/confirmed ARI patients.
In addition, if people could also remember to:
- Stay home if unwell
- Practice good hand and respiratory hygiene
- Maintain social distancing (1.5m apart from other people)
- Provide a TEAMS link for all meetings and ensure that rooms booked for face-to-face meetings have adequate capacity
- Ensure flu and COVID-19 vaccinations are up to date and annual fit testing for P2/N95 masks is completed
- Inform your line manager as soon as possible via the Smart Leave form on MyHR if you’re off sick
- Ensure compliance with mandatory training programs
Kind regards,
Dale.