Adj. Prof. Alanna Geary, Acting Executive Director, The Prince Charles Hospital

l to r: Perry Judd, Kate Pahor, Rose Seddon, Lauren Vincent, Tracey Lyon, Alanna Geary

My ongoing thanks to everyone for their continued hard work and support. As I come to the end of my second week as Acting Executive Director, I would like to say how impressed I am with the team at TPCH. It has been excellent to learn more about the business and priorities of the hospital, and get to know more of the great Charlies staff in the process.

This week, Director of Allied Health, Perry Judd and I had the opportunity to meet some of our dedicated TPCH peer responders as part of Metro North’s Peer Responder Week celebrations. Here at TPCH, we have a growing team of peer responders across the service who are trained to provide Psychological First Aid to colleagues who are experiencing distress of some kind. These peer responders provide a listening ear and support whilst facilitating additional support and links. Peer responders can come from any stream and be part-time or full-time staff. To become a Peer Responder and participate in the one day Psychological First Aid training, please click on the link below to find out more and register your interest.

I want to be a Peer Responder | TPCH Peer Responder Program (health.qld.gov.au)

Executive update

This week, we had our monthly performance meeting attended by members of TPCH and Metro North’s executive teams. Metro North commended the hospital’s increasing focus on patient and community safety, which has been demonstrated through the stabilisation and improvement in our QEAT (Queensland Emergency Access Target) performances. Positive feedback was also provided about TPCH’s increased activity as part of our ongoing COVID-19 recovery response, since the transition from Tier 3 in the last part of 2022. Well done everyone!

Have your Say Survey coming soon

From May 19, the third iteration of the Metro North Have Your Say employee engagement will give all Metro North employees the opportunity to provide feedback on their experience of the workplace and suggest improvements that could be integrated to improve the way we work together.

The Have Your Say survey takes 20 minutes of your time and provides you with the opportunity to share your opinions and experiences in the Metro North workplace. Let us know how we’ve improved, where we can continue to do better and what we are already doing well!

Help us to continue the high-quality care we strive for and together, we will shape our culture. For further resources or information on Have Your Say please visit the Have Your Say QHEPS page.

FAST FACTS

This week we will profile TPCH’s After Hours Nurse Navigator.

Did you know?:

• The role of the After Hours Nurse Navigator (AHNN) is to provide complex clinical support in the after hours setting
• TPCH has a team of three Grade 7 After Hours Nurse Navigators who work on a rotating roster to cover an evening and night shift, 7 days a week
• They assist in surges in Emergency Department presentations to create capacity for further presentations
• They review patients of clinical concern, those requiring one-on-one cohorted patient specials, and also assist with the management of unstable and/or high acuity patients
• The AHNN works alongside the Duty Nurse Manager to support coordination of patient access and hospital capacity for TPCH
• Their aim is to get the right patient, in the right bed, at the right time
• The AHHN supports MET calls and cardiac arrests as a part of the Rapid Response Team

They attend Code Blacks (personal threats) to assist with developing plans for staff and patient safety.

Staff Profile

With World Social Work Day occurring earlier this week, today we will profile Social Worker, Thoracic Oncology, Hannah Porter.

Hannah’s role includes assessing the sometimes challenging psychosocial needs of patients with respiratory conditions including lung cancer, and assisting patients and their families to navigate complex health and community services to achieve the best outcomes. This may include providing emotional support and counselling while patients adjust to a new and significant health condition, accessing much needed community services to achieve their goals of returning home from hospital, or even assisting to enter a residential aged care facility.

Hannah enjoys the ability to make a positive difference and contribute towards successful outcomes for patients and families, especially during times of great uncertainty. Like many of her colleagues. Hannah possesses a strong commitment to social justice, valuing the ability to help and empower those who are
most vulnerable, to help optimise their well-being and live life with meaning and dignity.

Outside of work, Hannah is a keen ice skater, having enjoyed competing with a synchronised ice skating team for many years. She likes spending time in nature, hiking, travelling and also enjoys reading a good book in the peace and quiet of her back yard.

New speed limit signs

For the safety of campus staff and visitors, a number of 10km speed limit signs have been put up at key locations along First Avenue and extending down to Wallace Street. This will assist with improved traffic control in the areas of St Vincent’s Private Hospital Northside, Wallace Street car park walking route and Endoscopy. Safety on our hospital campus is paramount, so I ask that staff act responsibly and adhere to the speed limits at all times. Thank you in advance for your cooperation.

Reminder – Undercover car parking ballot now open for staff

A reminder that the ballot for staff to be in the draw for access to 12 months of undercover car parking at Jacaranda Place, the adolescent mental health service located on TPCH campus, is now open until COB Sunday 2 April. There is a total of 110 car parking spaces available.

Interested staff should email their name, department and contact number to: TPCH_Corporateservices@health.qld.gov.au.

Please note: TPCH staff who were previously allocated access in 2021 and 2022 will not be considered in this ballot.

Shout out

As Tuesday 21 March was World Social Work Day, this week’s shout out goes to our fabulous Social Work team. This team of over 50 staff, provides a range of essential clinical support services to patients, their families and carers, across many specialties offered at TPCH. These include psychosocial assessments and interventions, crisis intervention and counselling, case management and discharge coordination for complex needs patients, psychoeducation on support services, and specialist consultation in the areas of NDIS, child protection, elder abuse, and family and domestic violence. This essential team works behind the scenes, helping to manage the most complex cases, by providing information, support and hope to some of our most socially challenged patients. Great work team!

Social Work team

Closing thought

As many of you know, I am a nurse and midwife by background and normally hold the role of Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer.  While I am always proud of what I do and the nurses and midwives that I work alongside and provide professional oversight for, I am so grateful for the other health professionals that I work with, and acknowledge the unique perspective that each and every discipline brings to the table.

We do such amazing work in Metro North, and the care you provide here at TPCH is exemplary.  I am very impressed by the way you pull together to achieve positive outcomes.  A few examples of what I have seen over the last couple of weeks include your ability to maximise bed utilisation, move patients through the Emergency Department who are then managed so well in the inpatient units, flex the Intensive Care Unit capacity up and down to meet demand, and effectively manage the surgical capability requirements. Congratulations to each and every staff member at TPCH – what wonderful examples of Values in Action!!

I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

Alanna Geary
Acting Executive Director