About North Lakes Health Precinct
As the largest health centre in Metro North Health, the precinct has a broad cross section of community services and clinics.
- Hospital in the Home
- Community Palliative Care Service
- Post-acute Care Services
- Complex Chronic Disease Team
- Community Based Rehabilitation Team
- Diabetes Service
- Aged Care Assessment Team.
In addition, there are a range of Queensland Health and Metro North healthcare services including Child Health Service, Renal Dialysis Unit, Chronic Kidney Team, Cancer Care Services and BreastScreen Queensland.
North Lakes Shining Star Winners (July 2023)
Kerrie Burry, Administrative Officer, Hospital in the Home
“Kerrie is super helpful and nothing is ever too much trouble for her. She always has a smile and has genuine warmth and care.
“She is an amazing support to all of us and we are so thankful to have her in the team.”
Matt Smith, BEMS Manager
“Matt is the backbone to ensure our buildings are well maintained and that the major projects go ahead to improve the infrastructure for all our patients, residents and staff.
“This role goes unrecognised, and he definitely deserves to be acknowledged for his commitment to COH and for his professionalism in working with all teams across the directorate.”
Rhiannon Magson, Data and Reporting Support Officer, Service Operations and Performance
“No job is too big for Rhi. Rhi is just one person who continues to shine, smiles and patiently delivers day after day.
“When faced with big challenges, even when the pressure is high, you always seem to get the job done and on time.
“Your eye for detail and walking staff through the brilliant reports you produce is second to none. More importantly you are just one amazing team player – not only are you a wizz at arranging a team lunch – you spend the weekend cooking for everyone as well.
“Rhi not only do we love your smoked chicken wings but we think you are one shining star.”
Facility Management Team
“The facility team including reception, corporate support and the Senior Administration Officer are an outstanding team.
“They all work together and have achieved this through trust and helping each other in tough times.
“They work hard and are professional, always treating our clients with a positive attitude and smile.
“I am constantly impressed by their performance and how well they work together.”
Ellen Grant, Advanced Occupational Therapist, Community Based Rehabilitation Team
“Ellie is a great team member who is always willing to assist the team with anything that is needed.
“She is very flexible in her approach and takes on additional tasks to support the service and team.
“Ellie has renewed the focus on staff development and the team has really appreciated her expertise and knowledge.”
Sarah Dillon and Stacey Morrison (unavailable), Clinical Nurses, Hospital in the Home
“As a team in Hospital in the Home (HITH) they have been high performing and improved HITH mandatory and requisite training compliance significantly over the past six months.
“The service is sitting above 90 percent for most of their training requirements.
“This is a phenomenal achievement and they implemented a plan to maintain this high level of success.”
Kiron Shukla, Advanced Physiotherapist, Community Based Rehabilitation Team
“Kiron is such a kind and considerate team member. Her focus is always on wellness for the staff so that they can care for our clients.
“She does this everyday by checking in with the team through a simple hello and asking how they are. She also co-ordinates team cheese platters, lunches and catch ups for coffee. Her kindness is very valued by the team.
“Kiron shows this kindness and compassion for all of her clients as well. She takes the time to get to know her clients and listens intently to make sure that she understands what the real priorities are for them. This is shown often by feedback from clients stating that felt very “heard” and really involved in their own care.”
Fern Patterson, Occupational Therapist, Complex Chronic Disease Team
“Fern is a passionate Occupational Therapist who strongly advocates for her patients.
“She is thorough with her assessments and recommendations, and works tirelessly for optimal holistic patient outcomes.”
Home Hospital
“This service line is leading the way with mandatory training compliance following a full-team effort to drive compliance from lows to now having the best compliance in the directorate.
“This is despite the obstacles of home visiting services with limited contact time where training can occur.”
Very Special Mention – Shining Star Award
Rajni Nair and the Hospital in the Home team
“In the past few months, Rajni and the team have been pulling rabbits out of the hat! They have gone above and beyond, and nothing has been too difficult for them.
“They have demonstrated flexibility, innovation and adaptability to increase services, while maintaining a very high level of safety to meet service demand across Metro North Health.
“Thank you so much for being such a shining light of our Directorate.”
For those Shining Stars on the road!
While a number of our staff were on the road, caring for patients or unavailable, please find following a list of the additional winners who couldn’t attend:
- Suzanne Harvey, Associate Nurse Manager, Hospital in the Home (HITH)
- Charmaine Carroll, Occupational Therapist, HITH
- Masego Motsholapheko, Speech Pathologist, Post Acute Care Service
- Luke Sutton, Occupational Therapist, HITH
- Finola Irish, Assistant in Nursing, Post Acute Care Service
- Jocelyn Spalding, Administration Officer, Community Based Rehabilitation Team
- Stacey Morrison, Clinical Nurse, HITH
- Roger Eite, Facility Maintenance Coordinator, BEMS
- Nyssa Bennett, Assistant in Nursing, HITH
- Bhavana Verma, Physiotherapist, HITH
Congratulations to all the winners and nominees.
Our Diabates Team provide close to 30,000 face-to-face and virtual
appointments to community members with Type 1 or 2 diabetes each year.
Spotlight: New intervention clinic allows for more complex care at home
A new North Lakes Intervention Clinic has been established to support Hospital in the Home (HITH) patients with more complex healthcare needs and deliver safe clinical care locally.
HITH Nurse Unit Manager Rajni Nair said the intervention clinic (H-INT clinic) at North Lakes Health Precinct was developed to safely support home hospital patients with more complex health care needs.
“The H-INT clinic is being utilised for additional clinical activities, complex interventions and monitoring, one being scheduled face-to-face patient reviews of HITH patients by Registrars,” she said.
“This initiative is having immediate benefit and is improving the services’ ability to monitor and intervene where required to deliver the right clinical care locally at the right time.
“The H-INT clinic and supporting Register interventions allow staff to closely monitor more complex patients and where necessary safely intervene without patient’s being transferred to a hospital for higher levels of care.”
Recently, an 85-year-old patient was transferred to HITH for wound management, fluid management and allied health support following surgery at The Prince Charles Hospital (TPCH).
“This patient had a significant medical history which included heart failure and irregular heartbeat,” Rajni said. “Following the scheduled H-INT clinic day five routine medical review we found that the patient was experiencing an irregular heartbeat and a very high heart rate.
“This required an immediate cardiac assessment, point of care ECG and I-stat pathology, administration of intravenous fluids, along with pathology laboratory testing.”
As part of this case, the HITH Registrar reviewed diagnostics and provided a clinical update to the treating team at TPCH, and intravenous medication was prescribed and administered by the HITH pharmacist.
Rajni said the patient was successfully managed at the H-INT clinic and returned home in two hours, with ongoing updates to the next of kin. Oral medications were reviewed and adjusted, with scripts provided and scanned to patient’s local pharmacy.
“This patient had access to the right clinical care at the right time through the H-INT clinic, and there was no need for transfer to hospital for care,” she said.
Each year, HITH services across Brisbane North deliver around 55,000 home visits, or face to face
and virtual appointments to patients in the community following a hospital admission.
HITH services actively reduce the length of stay of patients at hospitals by providing
a safe alternative to hospital care and recovery following surgery or a serious medical condition.
Spotlight: Supporting excellence in care – BEMS
Our Building, Maintenance and Engineering (BEMS) teams have been busy lately at North Lakes with the introduction of a negative flow room to support Hospital in the Home (HITH) patients.
The new clinical room, the first of its type in Community and Oral Health, is being used by HITH clinicians to deliver patient infusions of antivirals on site, as well as the care of positive COVID-19 patients in a secure and safe environment.
Significantly, the clinical room features an Energy Recovery Ventilation Unit that ensures internal air contained within the clinical room is removed safely, while fresh air is constantly recycled back into the room.
The negative flow room makes it a lot safer for visitors and staff at the precinct, as it isolates the flow of air in the clinic away from other areas of the precinct.
As part of the build over a few short months, the BEMs crew managed to plan, design and build the new clinical room and modify adjacent rooms.
Spotlight: Administrative staff profile – Jodie Brandt
Jodie has been employed by Queensland Health / Community and Oral Health for 16 years. Jodie works at North Lakes Health Precinct as an Administration Officer with Hospital in the Home.
What do you enjoy most about working within COH?
I enjoy providing the community with high levels of support for our patients. I would really like to explore working in Information System Support.
Which value to do you see demonstrated within your workplace?
Embedded Values in our recruitment process and the review and development of systems.
Tell us something interesting about yourself?
On weekends I like to spend my time with family and friends. I have three pets, Rosie, Tiger and Trixie. Rosie plays very nicely with the cats.
What is most rewarding about your career?
I like to help staff with their computer issues.
North Lakes compliment – Complex Chronic Disease Team
“I would like to express my gratitude towards the social worker who works for the Complex Chronic Disease Team.
“She has helped my son and our family immensely. I would like to commend her on her professionalism, caring and invaluable support. She always goes the extra mile for my son including completing research before our first appointment which uncovered worthwhile, potential supports for ongoing clinical needs.
“On top of this, she is willing to take the things she learnt from my son and look deeper into his clinical needs – it’s not just a tick and flick approach to care. She really cares about her clients that’s undeniable from the encouragement and understanding I received today for my family and my son.
“If this is the future for people requiring social support I am grateful that I have been introduced to the service and I hope others will be too.”
Our Complex Chronic Disease Team which is located across a number of sites
including North Lakes and Chermside support tens of thousands of visits
and virtual appointments for cardiac, complex and pulmonary conditions.
2023 Community and Oral Health Staff Excellence Awards are now open!
The 2023 Community and Oral Health Staff Excellence Awards are now open with an additional four new categories:
- Excellence in Innovation and Research (NEW)
- Supporting Excellence in Care (NEW)
- Excellence in Clinical Improvement (NEW)
- Improving First Nations Health (NEW)
To find out more please visit 2023 Community and Oral Health Staff Excellence Awards website.
Otherwise, you can go directly to the 2023 Community and Oral Health Staff Excellence Awards nomination form, which also details the criteria and response requirements.
Nominations are open until COB Thursday, 24 August 2023.