While 2021 has been far from the COVID-free year we all hoped for, there is still so much to celebrate and be proud of. Here’s a wrap up of some of the many highlights we’ve seen throughout the hospital.

COVID response

Team Royal continued to go above and beyond with our COVID-19 response. Thanks to everyone’s efforts, we’ve helped our community stay relatively COVID-free, and provided high quality care to many COVID-positive returned travellers. Over the course of 2021, we:

• Provided 97,398 COVID tests to the community in our Fever Clinic
• Vaccinated 76,034 staff, patients and community members in our RBWH Vaccination Clinic
• Held and assisted with 20 off-site vaccine clinics
• Cared for 138 COVID-positive patients
• Supported 383 at-risk members of the community to safely receive their COVID vaccination thanks to the Queensland Adult Specialist Immunisation Service

Making RBWH a better place for our patients

RBWH is always looking for ways to improve the care we provide to our patients, and the experience they have with us. Some of the ways we did this in 2021 include:

• The Nurse Ambassador program commenced and subsequently expanded to a number of wards across RBWH to provide care and support for disorientated and confused patients, while also supporting our nursing staff
• 6AS converted an unused storeroom into a beautiful, calming space for patients to have family meetings and spend time with their loved ones
• The Nuclear Medicine team worked day and night and overcame many challenges to develop and deliver a special radioactive tracer to a sick baby in Sydney
• Cancer Care welcomed three McGrath Breast Care Nurses to provide more support to breast cancer patients
• A multi-disciplinary team started Australia’s first dedicated clinic to optimising preoperative patients with diabetes
• We opened a new Milk Bank with the Red Cross Lifeblood team, which will help provide lifegiving donor breast milk to more sick and premature babies
• The Women’s Business Shared Pathway is removing barriers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women to access gynaecological and maternity care
• Plus so much more!

We cared for our staff

We care about our team, and over the course of 2021 we’ve celebrated and supported you! Thanks to Team Royal, the Metro North Events team and our dedicated staff wellness staff, we:

• Served 3000 cups of soup for our annual Winter Warmer
• Organised more than 30 food trucks for Food Truck Fridays and Night Feeds
• Served 2000 burgers for our End of Year Barbeque
• Provided wellbeing and psychological support for our staff via the Peer Responder Program, dedicated Staff Psychologist and Staff Wellbeing Officer
• Had lots of fun thanks to the Shadow Council’s RBWH has got talent and Metro North’s netball and soccer tournaments!

Cheers to 2021!