{"id":18972,"date":"2024-01-25T12:33:45","date_gmt":"2024-01-25T02:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/extranet\/?p=18972"},"modified":"2024-05-23T12:42:37","modified_gmt":"2024-05-23T02:42:37","slug":"ed-ckw-20240125","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/metronorth.health.qld.gov.au\/extranet\/facility-messages\/ed-ckw-20240125","title":{"rendered":"Message from the Executive Director"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Karlene

Karlene Willcocks, Executive Director<\/p><\/div>\n

For many of us, this week is a short week with Friday being a public holiday. This day is significant to people for different reasons and brings a mixture of emotions. For many people this day is one\u00a0of sorrow and mourning, while for others,\u00a0it is a celebration. We need to be aware, respectful and understanding of the different perspectives that exist amongst our CKW team and community towards this day, and show respect in actions for these differences. I encourage you to reflect on what the day means to you personally, taking to time to value your individuality and consider how others are feeling and why.<\/h4>\n

This brings me to the very important issue of values. Values sit at the centre of everything we do in health care and yesterday, this was recognised when we officially launched our CKW<\/strong> Caring Together: Living Our Values Charter.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Metro North Values are respect, integrity, teamwork, high performance and compassion. The Values Charter is a way we can decide what the values mean to us here at CKW and look at how we can put them into practice in our everyday work. The Charter is a guide for all of CKW, and includes agreed principles to use in guiding how we act and treat each other. As part of the Charter, we have also developed a video about Courageous Conversations as a tool to support staff. View the video.<\/a><\/p>\n

When I think about CKW and what we stand for, I ask staff to consider why we are all here. Why did we choose to work in health in the first place? CKW is a place of care and subsequently, it is an expectation from our patients and visitors that staff will demonstrate behaviours that show we are \u2018Caring Together\u2019 to provide a safe, high quality care experience for them. This should remain our guiding principle and the Values Charter is an excellent tool for helping us continue achieve this for our CKW community.<\/p>\n

What a privilege to be involved in this launch and have this Charter\u00a0as a guiding document as we head forward. What was amazing at the launch was to be able to see the journey that CKW staff took in building this document and its various stages of development and redevelopment.\u00a0 It was interesting to speak to different staff about the working groups, how they will use the Charter\u00a0in their local workplace and with their\u00a0teams, and what aspects of the Charter resounded with them personally.<\/p>\n

I would like to share some of the sentiments conveyed by staff at yesterday’s launch about what the values mean\u00a0to them.<\/p>\n<\/div>

\"Gemma<\/span><\/div>
<\/div>

Gemma Cockroft<\/strong>
\nNurse Educator Clinical Placements<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Compassion is about being open and honest with someone, making sure they feel valued, heard and not judged. It\u2019s about thinking about what has bought them (the patient) here, so we can alleviate their fears.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Tony<\/span><\/div>
<\/div>

Tony Botor
\nActing CNC Cardiology\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Teamwork is about seeing each of your member\u2019s potential and working in cooperation to make the shift go well. Having a strong team also enhances psychological and environmental safety.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"Tracy<\/span><\/div>
<\/div>

Tracy Grant<\/strong>
\nManager Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Respect is appreciation that we come from all different walks of life and we all have a story tell. It\u2019s acknowledgement of the journey we have been on, and where we are going to.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>

<\/div>

Patient Flow<\/h3>\n

As we focus on patient flow, I would like to remind everyone that this is about entry to our services through to exit from our services. It’s about seeing the patient in the right (and best) place at the right time and looking at improving our ability to achieve this.\u00a0 Patient flow is an ongoing challenge and we are working on many aspects of this at present through outpatient access, theatre bookings, ED and the wards. In fact, it is area that we never stop focusing on as, I don\u2019t know about you, but I have never worked in a perfect system.<\/p>\n

We each have an area we work in and for many of us that is our area of expertise and choice. For example, ED staff generally do not want or aspire to work in a medical ward and medical specialists do not aspire to be ED specialists.\u00a0 I was reminded of this recently when I was talking to two of the Nursing Directors both of whom shared stories of supporting patient movements to the other’s area, both acknowledging the business and different pressures of each other’s respective areas.\u00a0 This conversation reminded me that we need to respect that all service areas have patient demand pressures and are very busy, but – busy looks very different in every space.<\/p>\n

Our focus on moving patients is continuous, because we know that longer stays in hospital or in the wrong place in the hospital are not good for our patients or for community care. In considering this, we all have a role in actively focusing on moving the patients to the best place for them in the most efficient way.\u00a0 This means that, for example:<\/p>\n