Karlene Willcocks, Acting Executive Director

It has been a great privilege to spend the last four weeks leading STARS as the Acting ED. During this brief time I have got to know many of the leaders in the team and had the opportunity to meet and speak with a number of the clinicians across STARS. The knowledge you have all so freely shared with me will certainly enhance my practice going forward and I believe will truly help us work together across the Metro North team. I certainly feel we have continued to progress STARS in these four weeks and know that some exciting things are proceeding still.

Oral Health Alliance comes to STARS

This week we have welcomed the Oral Health Alliance over to the STARS team, which is an exciting change for us all. Ben and I had the opportunity to go for a tour through the Oral Health Centre, which was fantastic to see. We extend our warmest welcome to the team and look forward to working with them.

Self-care

Allison Welch

During my time at STARS, it has been amazing to see how committed you all are to your work and how much you bring to work of yourselves, and so it seems timely to remind you all to look after yourselves as well as our patients, community and each other. I want to welcome our new Culture and Wellbeing Staff Psychologist, Allison Welch. Allison is available to support you all and can be contacted via the MN Staff Psychology duty line on 3647 9673 or MNStaffPsychology@health.qld.gov.au.

Staff can also use the PEER Responder program or contact Benestar on 1300 360 364 or visit the QHEPS page.

Confidentiality and social media

Please also remember that confidentiality is at the heart of our work and we need to be mindful of the conversations we have and where we have them. Additionally, please ensure you protect yourself on social media with a few simple rules:

• Do not talk about work or patients
• Do not identify yourself as an employee of Queensland Health, Metro North or STARS
• Ensure you have your privacy settings at the highest level.

Staff changes

Acting Director of Allied Health

I would like to acknowledge Tamsin Mahoney who has until last week been the Acting Director of Allied Health, and welcome Margie Butnoris who has moved into the role for the next six weeks while we progress permanent recruitment.

Nathan Costin

Nursing Director, Workforce, Education, Innovation and Strategy

Please welcome Nathan Costin to STARS as our new Nursing Director, Workforce, Education, Innovation and Strategy. Nathan’s background is an ICU nurse with more than two decades of experience having previously undertaken Nurse Educator and Nurse Manager roles looking at models of care and infrastructure projects.

For the past four years Nathan was the Director for Strategic Planning – Health Services and Infrastructure within the Department of Health. Nathan has a strong interest in disaster management, being a Nursing Officer within the Royal Australian Air Force and a former member of the Australian Medical Assistance Team.

Nathan has two children, Harrison and Miller, aged four and two respectively and is a keen cyclist recently spending many a late night/early morning watching the Tour de France. If you see Nathan around, please don’t hesitate to say hi and welcome him to our STARS team.

Medical Director Geriatrics and Rehabilitation

I want to acknowledge Kana Appadurai who is stepping down from his Medical Director role into what he tells me is partial retirement post his two-month break in which he is visiting family and having a holiday in Kuala Lumpur. Kana has worked in Metro North since 1991 – 31 years and in the lead role for 13 years (2010) as Director of Geriatric and Rehabilitation IMAC.

Kana has been involved in STARS since its beginnings, playing a critical role in developing the case for building a dedicated, state-of-the-art rehabilitation facility for the people of Metro North and Queensland. After leading the team to transfer the service from GARU to STARS, Kana has been imperative in continuing to develop the Geriatric and Rehabilitation Services at STARS and across Metro North.

Kana tells me he is looking forward to spending time with his children and doing other things but also to returning as an SMO to support patients at STARS to access timely and appropriate care.

Whilst there will be a formal recognition of Kana’s service as Medical Director in a few weeks (look out for the invite), this morning we held an informal morning tea. It was lovely to see everyone coming together to recognise Kana’s amazing contribution to Metro North and share their work stories. While we will miss Kana’s leadership as the Medical Director, we will look forward to seeing his smiling demeanour back with us and our patients shortly when he returns as an SMO.

Dr Vikram Joshi has been appointed as the Acting Director, Geriatric and Rehabilitation Services, commencing on Monday, 17 July. Please welcome Dr Joshi to the role.

Hand Hygiene Awards

This week we also announced our inaugural hand hygiene awards for the second quarter of 2023. Auditor of the Quarter goes to Nikita Prasad (DSU) with over 300 moments collected. Rhea Majaducon (4A) and Maritess Alberto (6B) were highly commended.

The Clinical Area competition was extremely close, with the win going to the Main Operating Theatre Recovery. Ward 5B was the runner-up, only missing out by one percent difference, so a big congratulations to them as well. The Professional Stream winner was Nursing, with Allied Health as the runner-up. The winners received a certificate and the chance to display the Hand Hygiene Winner banner in their area.

Spinal Impact Analysis

The Spinal Impact Analysis staff engagement sessions have now been completed, with a total of nine sessions facilitated. If you were unable to attend a session over the past fortnight there is still an opportunity to provide your feedback via the Impact Analysis Staff Survey. You can respond anonymously if you prefer. The deadline for submitting the survey is 5pm next Monday, 17 July.

I thank all staff who attended one of the engagement sessions or who submitted a survey response so far. I have been so impressed with everyone’s willingness to participate in the process and provide insights into the opportunities and issues of temporarily relocating QSCIS to STARS. The next step is for the project team to present the collated feedback from the engagement sessions and survey to the Leadership team to ensure the important themes have been captured.

Consumer interviews have also commenced, including past patients from STARS, and are being facilitated by Health Consumers Queensland and Queenslanders with Disability Network, in collaboration with the project team.

Achievements

It was my true pleasure to get dressed into scrubs this week and visit theatre, endoscopy and CSU – what great places doing great work! I was really impressed to hear what you have all been doing to open the oesophageal manometry, with many processes, planning and workarounds required to ensure we were able to clean the delicate catheters required for the procedure and ensure our Metro North patients can access this important service.

Again thank you all for your support, care, kindness and a little… a lot of fun over the last four weeks. As those of you who have heard me speak will realise, I am a New Zealand European/Pakeha, and I wanted to share with you a Maori saying that lays at my heart and is evident here as I return to TPCH enriched by the four weeks I have spent at STARS.

Kind regards,

Karlene.