We have held a series of Compassion Labs with Mary Freer across the health service which have been well received. Mary’s four steps of compassion are to show up, understand, move closer and act. These steps can help us focus on being the kindest and nicest health service, not only to our patients but to each other. If you want to learn more, Mary’s website has a series of videos of talks at last year’s Compassion Conference.

Metro North is committed to improving health outcomes and providing culturally safe healthcare services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. This week we launched a new initiative through BreastScreen Queensland Brisbane Northside Service to provide beautiful modesty shawls for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.

In 2017, Metro North launched our MN32: NextCare aspirational roadmap. At the time, even 15 years seemed like a tight timeframe to achieve some of our stretch goals. In the past five years, we’ve achieved a huge number of our goals, like building new facilities, opening our institutes, developing our closing the gap plan, and expanding our digital footprint.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the graduation ceremony for our Deadly Start students. The event was a lovely celebration of what the students have achieved. The Minister for Health has shown great support for the Deadly Start program and came along to present the students, including Lilli-Jade (pictured), with their certificates.

This week I was delighted to attend the launch of Metro North’s Newborn Screening Service and online education program. The service has been designed to elevate newborn screening practices across the health service with the aim of achieving clinical excellence in this area.

While this message comes a little earlier in the week than usual, I can confirm it is not Friday yet. It is however a momentous occasion for Metro North Health – Tier 0 in our COVID-19 response plan.

We awoke today to the sad news of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty embodied the idea that ‘leadership is managing government and politics; ruling with one's heart and head is statesmanship’. Regardless of anyone’s personal politics, this is the loss of a true world leader, the longest reigning monarch of the Commonwealth, and a woman who dedicated 70 years of her life to public service.

Next Thursday, 8 September, is R U OK? Day. There are currently 1325 Staff across Metro North skilled in having an R U OK? Conversation. Our Metro North R U OKers are kind to others, value meaningful relationships and contribute to creating an organisation where we all feel connected and supported.

You may have seen the announcement today by the Acting Director-General in relation to appointments to the Department of Health Senior Leadership Team. A number of these appointments are talented people who have previously worked in Metro North. I look forward to working closely the new leadership team.

I’m pleased to see this week we have continued to see a slight decrease in demand. We are almost at the end of Winter and as the respiratory impacts start to decline, Metro North Executive team are currently discussing ways of showing our appreciation over the month of September for our hard working staff.

The past few months have continued to be busy. We are now starting to see a slight decrease in demand. We are preparing to move to Tier 2 in our COVID and Influenza Response Plan during the course of next week, assuming we continue to see declining COVID numbers. There will be communication in the coming days to support everyone in preparing for this change.

This week we have seen a large drop in our COVID patient numbers and the number of staff on sick leave is coming down. Please visit a pop-up kiosk next week to upload your COVID booster information if you haven’t done it already.

What a week we’ve had! We have continued to see high demand coupled with high staff sick leave. Unfortunately, it looks like the current situation will continue for a few more weeks.

As you all continue to respond to waves and surges of COVID, the recognition and acknowledgement that you are all health heroes is not lost on Metro North Executive and the Board.

Demand is still high and we have many staff off across Metro North. Thank you all for your ongoing work to ensure we continue to deliver high quality care. I appreciate there is a lot of work involved in postponing planned care and I hope we are able to get back to a business as usual approach soon.

This week we moved to Tier 3 of our COVID-19 and Influenza Response Plan. We are seeing high demand and the modelling suggests that we have a few weeks to go before we reach the peak. I am sure for many of you are fatigued from hearing about vaccination, social distancing and good hand hygiene but please remain vigilant.

Sunday marks the start of NAIDOC Week 2022. We have a range of activities and events happening across Metro North for staff and community.

Thank you all for your work during another challenging week. It’s wonderful to see the health service pull together to ensure shifts are covered at all of our hospitals and patients continue to receive excellent care.

Now just for a minute stop where you are and think about how YOU felt when you were kind to someone.

Winter is well and truly here this week! I hope you’re all staying warm, especially those who have early or late starts or finishes.

What would Leo do?

Happy NAIDOC Week 2022! This year’s NAIDOC theme Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up! is a powerful and strong message encouraging the nation to create systemic change, and reminds us of the many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heroes and champions who have driven and laid foundation for change over generations here in Australia and internationally.

This week is National Reconciliation Week (27 May – 3 June) 2022, a time for all of us to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how we can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia.

We have listened and heard stories, experiences, discussions, and ideas about health equity in many forms from staff yarns and consultations to our working groups as well as with our community consultations. This truth telling, sharing, listening and discussions have helped pave the way for the Metro North Health Equity Strategy 2022 – 2025 to be developed.

This week has been particularly busy across our facilities. Thank you all for your work, particularly for lending a hand to cover for colleagues on sick leave.

I hope you are all staying safe and dry. This week’s rainfall has been intense, and we have already seen two of our facilities, Kilcoy Hospital and Woodford Corrections Health, isolated due to road closures. More rain is expected over the weekend, so please drive to the conditions, plan ahead and don’t attempt to cross flooded roads.

I’d like to acknowledge and congratulate all of our nursing colleagues on International Nurses Day.

Our workforce is made up of more than 22,000 people who have diverse experience and skills. As a large health service, we need a wide variety of roles to ensure we can meet the needs of our patients, through clinical service delivery and support functions.

We have completed recruitment for the Chief Finance and Corporate Officer and I’m pleased to let you know Alister Whitta has been successful in the role. Alister has been acting in the position for several months, coming to us from a similar role in Metro South.

Firstly, I want to acknowledge the huge amount of work happening across Metro North and the demand we’re seeing for unplanned care. While we are moving into our recovery phase, we are still responding to COVID day to day and this is likely to be the case for the coming weeks and months. Even as we shift to a recovery model, we will continue to monitor the COVID situation daily to respond when changes occur.

Celebrating our achievements is an important way that we create a workplace that is truly a great place to work. This week nominations closed for the Metro North Research Excellence Awards and it was excellent to see that even in this busy time we have received 71 nominations.

Health equity is a major focus for Metro North and Queensland Health this year. Through our Metro North Health Equity Strategy we are working to close the gap for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and provide culturally appropriate care.

This week we have had increased presentations across our emergency departments. Thank you to everyone for your efforts.

We are currently seeing a high number of presentations. Caboolture Hospital in particular has seen record numbers this week. Thank you all for your work.

Today is the second anniversary of the World Health Organization officially declaring the COVID-19 pandemic. At that point there were 118,000 recorded cases across 114 countries and 4291 deaths.

Just a quick update on our executive team. Our Acting Chief Operating Officer Dr David Rosengren has been offered an excellent opportunity to act as the Queensland Health COO for three months. David will start this new role on 14 March.

This week we have witnessed tremendous displays of all of our Metro North values. I’m not a hugger, but this week I am feeling the need. We’re still in COVID times, so I’m sending you all a virtual hug.

It has certainly been a weekend to remember. I hope you are all safe.

This morning we held our Australia Day Achievement Awards which were postponed last month due to the December-January COVID surge. Congratulations to this year’s recipients: Anne Carle, Executive Officer, Human Research Ethics Committee, TPCH Erin Dunn, Pharmacist Team Leader, Internal Medicine Service, TPCH Bianca Rivera, Registered Nurse, Cognitive Assessment Management Unit, TPCH Redcliffe Hospital Better Together Medication Access implementation team Dr Catherine Yelland PSM, Medical Director, Medicine Service Line, Redcliffe Hospital Queensland Adult Specialist Immunisation Service, RBWH Edwina Powe, Senior Physiotherapist, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Business Service Shane Jeynes, Manager Administration Services, Women’s and Newborn Services, RBWH Les Richardson, Assistant Director, Safety and Implementation Service, RBWH Savannah Burkin, Senior Administration officer, Patient Flow Services, RBWH Jon Roberts, Business Manager, Surgical and Peri-operative Services, RBWH King Law, Data Manager, Surgical and Peri-operative Services, RBWH Freda Papoutsakis, Senior Administration Officer, Internal Medicine and Aged Care, RBWH Halligan Quin, Lawyer, Metro North Health Virtual Ward Team, Community and Oral Health John Walters, Principal Communications Advisor, Metro North Communication Janelle Laws, Acting Assistant Nursing & Midwifery Director, Education and Workforce Development, Metro North One of the themes that emerged through the Have your Say staff survey last year was the need for physical improvements in staff and patient areas. We have allocated $2 million for minor infrastructure projects across our clinical directorates. This work is now starting so you may see improvements in your local area soon. Over the next few weeks we will be starting to plan for the flu season and our annual flu vaccination program. With COVID still active in the community, we are looking at a combination of both COVID and flu infections and how we manage that in our hospitals and in our workforce. Current modelling shows an influenza peak in July, so our staff vaccination program will likely start in April. Associate Professor Glen Kennedy will be the Acting Executive Director Clinical Services form 12 months from Monday while Dr Liz Whiting is working in the Department of Health. We are currently progressing recruitment processes for our Chief Operating Officer, Chief Finance and Corporate Officer, and Deputy Chief Operating Officer. The HR review is continuing and this week the business case for change was presented at the Board meeting. Consultation meetings on the plan will begin next week. I will keep you updated on the progress and outcomes of the HR review and opportunities to be involved. We are also working on some Metro North wide principles for flexible working arrangements, which has been a regular question topic in the vidcasts. To inform this work, I am seeking your feedback on your experience and thoughts about flexible working arrangements through this short survey. We have received a letter from the CEO of Brisbane Airport Corporation thanking health staff for their work over the past two years at the airport since the borders were closed in February 2020. The letter says that despite the challenges of the pandemic response, the health staff consistently demonstrated integrity, support and collaboration with airport staff.

Thank you to everyone who has congratulated me on my appointment as Metro North Chief Executive. I am very pleased to be officially in the role and to continue delivering on our MN32 strategy.

This Sunday marks the anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generation. National Apology Day is a significant day in Australia’s journey to reconciliation which acknowledges the damage and intergenerational trauma of government policy which allowed horrendous treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly the forced removal of children from their families.

Over the past nearly two years we have been planning for a surge in COVID-19 cases in our community and in our workforce. The current situation is challenging, but we knew it could happen and we have planned accordingly. Many of our healthcare colleagues interstate and overseas have been facing surge after surge since the pandemic started, so in many ways we are fortunate to have had time to prepare.

This week the Surgical, Treatment and Rehabilitation Service (STARS) has undergone full accreditation. The accreditation summation yesterday provided fantastic feedback to the STARS team. While we are yet to receive the final report, the feedback received is testament to an enabling team culture that is exactly what we want for our patients and staff.

This week we have seen COVID community transmission numbers stabilise. While there are still much higher numbers than we saw in the previous two years, we have demonstrated our agility and ability to respond as needed. Thank you all for your contribution.

My highest priority is your safety and wellbeing. That’s why it’s important to me that you get your COVID-19 booster shots and get fit tested and fit checked. This week we have done more work to support access to fit testing across the health service including extending hours, training more staff, and purchasing additional machines.