Gillian Nasato

Dear colleagues,

What a start to 2022 it has been. While we knew COVID was likely to make its way into our community late last year, I don’t think any of us expected the full impact this would have on us all.

Our entire hospital has been challenged to manage a significant number of COVID-positive and close contact staff requiring time off work, and we have also received many COVID patients into our care.

In addition to this, the recent flooding event was an incredibly challenging time for us all in both our professional and personal lives. Despite everything that has been going on, you have all stepped up to support your teams and in turn, our entire community. I have been so proud to see Team Royal going above and beyond and remaining flexible and agile throughout this ever-changing situation. Thank you to everyone for your ongoing efforts.

I’d like to formally welcome our new nursing graduates, Allied Health and medical interns to Team Royal, as well as all new staff members who have commenced with RBWH. I hope your time so far has been enjoyable and look forward to meeting you in the coming months.

For all our existing staff members, if you see a new face around your work area, please be sure to introduce yourself and make them feel welcome.

RBWH has been fortunate to receive some incredibly generous donations of meals from various community groups and hospitality businesses over the past few weeks. We have distributed these meals to various departments across RBWH, with a particular focus on providing food to frontline staff who are unable to leave their work area for meal breaks due to COVID restrictions. These kind organisations have given their own time and money to help feed our staff and we are incredibly grateful to them.

In this edition of News at the Royal, you will find out about our Cancer Care department being named as one of the top 100 cancer centres in the world – a tremendous achievement for the team! This issue also contains features on Kelvin Grove State College students are helping our RADAR team, the launch of RBWH’s new patient meal ordering system, MyMeals@RBWH and much more.

Have a great month.

Kind regards,

Gillian Nasato
Acting Executive Director
Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital