Tami Photinos, Executive Director, The Prince Charles Hospital

This will be my final message for the year and I would like to thank everyone for their contributions and hard work throughout 2022. What another big year we’ve had!

On Tuesday we held the judging for our annual Christmas Decoration Competition. We had many creative entries and our teams certainly went to a great deal of effort to make their areas festive for our patients and families. I was surprised I didn’t get a lot of offers of dark chocolate although someone did hand me a little chocolate and another area gave me a big bag of white chocolate.  Lucky chocolate wasn’t one of the judging criteria! Joking!  For the judging, our Executive team had the pleasure of being joined by Metro North’s Deputy Board Chair, Dr Kim Forester who took the opportunity to meet with staff and thank them for their hard work throughout the year.  Along the way, we also spoke with a number of patients who commended our staff and expressed their gratitude for the care given to them.

The winners are:

Overall winner:   Ward 2E

Traditional
Winner: Safety and Quality Unit
Highly commended: Cardiac Rehabilitation

Aussie Christmas
Winner: Thoracic Ward
Highly commended: Ward 2D

Most Unique
Winner: Cardiac Sciences Unit
Highly commended: Ward 2C

People’s Choice: Nursing Education and Nursing Workforce

Executive Director Festive Fun Award: Children’s Ward

Congratulations to our winners and thank you to all areas for your efforts in making the stay of our patients during the festive season, a much brighter one. As a Christmas Grinch, (not really) even I was impressed, so well done everyone!  I even gave out an Executive Director Festive Fun Award! Some photos are at the end of my message.

During the last year, we’ve continued to achieve a lot as a team, especially considering a notable part of this was spent in various tiers of our COVID response.  I’ve continued to meet and get to know many staff across TPCH and have had the opportunity to see many of our teams in action.  As I’ve said before, for me, it’s not about the position titles we hold; it’s about the actual people who perform the roles and how we each do our part in supporting the delivery of great care to our patients. We have many excellent people at TPCH who give their best each day to make sure our patients receive first class care.

TPCH has had many notable achievements this year, which include (but are certainly not limited to):

• Launch of world first ICU of the Future
• Sleep Disorders Centre 40th anniversary
• Australian first cardiac Pulse Field Ablation procedure
• Queensland first introduction of new Zero-G Robotic Gait and Balance System by Physiotherapy Department to support improved patient mobility
• Children’s Service 10th anniversary
• Upgrade of Cardiac Investigations Unit reception and waiting room
• 100th Personalised External Aortic Root Support (PEARS) procedure performed
• Governance of clinical support services transitioned back to the facility
• Cognitive Assessment Management (CAM) Unit refurbished

While these are some of our ‘big ticket’ items, it is equally important to acknowledge the day-to-day care provided by our staff which contributes to the improved health outcomes and a positive experience for our patients.

It would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the recent transition to tier zero in our COVID-19 response. This change represented a significant milestone in our COVID journey, and I know for many of us, was a welcome relief with the further easing of restrictions and return to normal business. I appreciate that the last three years have been challenging and there is no doubt some general ‘COVID fatigue’ among us. I commend everyone on their efforts, especially during the last couple of months since we entered the current tier, in supporting the delivery of additional care to many of our patients who had been waiting. A huge effort, so hats off to all of you!

In saying this, COVID-19 is still present in our community and a number of our staff at TPCH are currently impacted and away from the workplace. So I encourage everyone to play it safe as possible over the festive period by keeping up good infection control practices and staying home if you are unwell.

With such a big year behind us and another one ahead of us, I would like to take this opportunity to convey my appreciation for all the work people do at TPCH. A shout out to Michael Hornby and the hard working team at The Common Good including our Charlies Angels volunteers for their wonderful support throughout the year.

These holidays, I hope you enjoy some quality time with your loved ones and get the chance to unwind and relax away from the pressures of work.  I’m hosting a Christmas Eve dinner for about 12 of my extended family and then spending Christmas day with my immediate family and parents who are both in their 80s and still living in their own home. Mum of course is cooking up a Greek feast – don’t think she understands portion sizes and control but it’s one day and all can be corrected in the next meal. During this time, I do reflect on people that are not as fortunate as many of us, something that has always been close to my own heart. You might be interested to know that I have sponsored many children as my part of my remit to help those less advantaged, and I think a lot about them especially at this time of year.

For those staff who are working, thank you for your commitment to our patients. We hope you enjoy the festive meal boxes which will be provided to all TPCH staff working on Christmas day.

We need to remember that for some people, the festive season is not a good time of year.  If you need support or someone to talk to, or know someone who does, there are a range of wellbeing services available. You can read more about these on the Metro North Staff Wellness intranet page.

The Executive team and I wish you all a safe and happy festive season, and we look forward to working with you again next year.

Christmas Decoration Competition – Winners

Overall winner – Ward 2E

Category Winners

Highly Commended

Today’s quote
“Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family: Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one.” – Jane Howard

Tami Photinos
Executive Director