Tami Photinos, Executive Director, The Prince Charles Hospital

Wow, what a big week we’ve had with our TPCH Charlies Week celebrations. It’s been a great, fun-filled week with some fantastic activities (and lots of food!). The Executive team and myself would like to thank staff for participating and getting involved in the true spirit of the week.

There has certainly been a great vibe around the hospital! You might be interested to know that I competed in the Jelly Legs competition as part of the Charlies Fitness Challenge on Giving day with Michelle Gunner, Executive Office Coordinator and we almost won – we came second. Not bad for an old girl!

The dynamic duo – Michelle Gunner and Tami Photinos

Today we held our annual TPCH Staff Excellence Awards ceremony as the conclusion to our TPCH Week celebrations.

It was wonderful to come together to acknowledge and celebrate the achievements of staff from so many different parts of TPCH who excel in their particular area of work, to support the delivery of great care to our patients. We have many talented people at TPCH and these awards allow us to recognise those individuals and teams who are stand outs in their respective field and in their conduct of the values that are important us.

I am delighted to announce that the following staff and teams received awards this year:

Researcher of the Year
Winner:  Dr Jack Bell, Allied Health Research Collaborative
Highly Commended: Oystein Tronstad, Critical Care Research Group

Rising Star of Research
Winner:  Ann Finnimore, Speech Pathology Department

Research Support
Winner:  Jiville Latu, Critical Care Research Group

Research Partnership
Winner: Dr Glenn Stewart, Allied Health Research Collaborative

Outstanding Performance
Winner:  Ward 1E
Highly Commended:  Dr Harsh Kandpal, Medical Imaging Department

Innovation
Winner:  Cardiac Electrophysiology Team
Highly Commended (2 recipients):  Living Heart Project, Critical Care Research Group &
Grand Friends Intergenerational Care Program, Older Persons Mental Health Team/TPCH Early Education Centre

Clinical Excellence
Winner:  Sleep Disorders Centre
Highly Commended (2 recipients): Rheumatology Service & Kylie Sykes, Paediatric Services

Some of our staff excellence award winners

Excellence in Clinical Teaching and Education
Winner:  Katrina O’Keefe, Medical Imaging Department
Highly Commended:  Delirium and Dementia Service

Cultural Diversity
Winner: Internal Medicine Service
Highly Commended: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Service
Certificate of Recognition: Group Linen Services

Consumer Engagement
Winner:  Cardiothoracic Pharmacy Team
Highly Commended:  Food Service Menu Monitor Team

Values in Action
Winners:
General Surgical Service
Protective Services Team
Sheree Ellis, Administration Services
Prehabilitation Program (SurgiFIT) Team
Connie Morselli, Health Information Services

Executive Director’s Award
Winner:  Safety and Quality Unit

In continuing the spirit of staff recognition, last night we held our inaugural TPCH NAIDOC and Reconciliation Excellence Awards to recognise and honour First Nation and non-First nation staff and community who contribute to achieving health equity for all journeying through the healing system. It was a great night and I would like to congratulate all of our winners which we will announce to TPCH staff in a separate special email message next week.

We also held our Length of Service awards yesterday recognising the dedicated service of our staff. I’d like to thank those staff for their commitment over many years, especially the following staff for their significant longstanding service.

TPCH Week winners

Master Cake Competition

Giving Day

Executive Leadership Team at Giving Day

The Common Good’s second annual Giving Day was a huge success, with donations surpassing the $250,000 goal and a lot of fun had by all who attended! We couldn’t have reached this impressive milestone or had such a fantastic day without the help of our generous supporters, and volunteers, along with the hospital teams who rolled up their sleeves to drum up donations. We are also so grateful to everyone who joined in activities like the fitness challenge and the dress-up competition!

The funding raised this year will be used to support a range of vital, patient-centred projects within TPCH and Caboolture Hospital, including a village-like community spare within the Cognitive Assessment and Management Unit, expanding the Grand-friends program at TPCH Early Education Centre, and memory corridors to promote mobility and cognitive stimulation for older patients. We look forward to these initiatives for our patients. There’s still time to contribute to these great projects. Click here to show your support.

A huge thanks to Michael Hornby and his team at the Common Good for their efforts in coordinating such a successful Giving Day event that will help us deliver initiatives to improve the experience of our patients.

Shout out

This week I’d like to give a shout out to Karen Leighton, Kirsty Leo and Dr Gurudev Kewalram who graduated from the Metro North Executive Leaders Program earlier this week. This program is designed to identify, develop, and retain senior employees with the ability, engagement, and aspiration to progress to other senior within a health environment. I was fortunate enough to attend the final presentations for these staff members and I congratulate them on their success in completing the program.

Dr Gurudev Kewalram, Kirsty Leo, Tami Photinos and Karen Leighton

Congratulations again to all of our winners, and thank you to everyone who helped make TPCH Week a great success.

Tami Photinos
Executive Director