I was so very proud of the eight STARS Deadly Start students who recently completed either a Cert III in Allied Health Assistance, Cert III in Health Services Assistance or a Cert III in Health Administration.

We all learned with sadness this week of the passing of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Her Majesty was much loved by many Queenslanders as evidenced by crowds in attendance for her last Queensland visit in the aftermath of the 2011 floods.

This week we are running a four day COVID booster blitz for STARS staff. The clinic will offer Pfizer vaccines for staff who require a third or fourth dose of COVID vaccine.

A pop up kiosk is available at STARS to help you upload details of your COVID-19 vaccine boosters. The kiosk is open from 10 am to 3pm Monday to Friday in the Level 3 internal corridor.

With the current COVID-19 peak still a few weeks away, it’s important to keep your vaccinations up-to-date. This means having all boosters you are eligible for to provide an extra layer of protection against COVID-19.

It’s been a tough couple of weeks, but I want to thank you all for your patience and perseverance as we work through this COVID-19 and winter respiratory illness surge together. With cases in the community continuing to rise, and many staff away from work due to illness, it’s important that we continue to look after ourselves and support one another through this time.

As per the Message from the Metro North Health Incident Controller - COVID-19 & Influenza update 414 that came out yesterday, Metro North Health has moved to Tier 3 of the new Metro North COVID-19 and Influenza Response Plan 2022. This is due to significant community transmission of COVID-19 and influenza.

The Staff Council for hosted the STARS Winter Warmer this week. The Staff Council Co-chairs Alana and Kristiana told us there were over 450 staff who visited the Level 3 staff room to enjoy some food and meet the council members.

Please join me in welcoming Dr Chris Beck to STARS as Acting Director of Medical Services. Chris commenced at STARS on Monday and will be with us until October, by which time we hope to have finalised a permanent recruitment process.

There are new changes to the PPE requirements at STARS. After a thorough risk assessment in line with the updated PPE risk matrix and the Queensland Infection Clinical Network (QICN) exposure risk matrix, the following changes now apply:

Today, 27 May, is the beginning of National Reconciliation Week, which runs each year from 27 May to 3 June. It comes after National Sorry Day on 26 May, which marks the anniversary of the Bringing Them Home report being tabled in Parliament.

You may have seen that today’s Incident Controller update (no. 410) included a refreshed PPE guide in line with advice from Queensland Health.

Today is International Nurses Day. Around the world every May 12, International Nurses Day is celebrated on the anniversary of Florence Nightingale’s birth.

I was away unexpectedly at the end of last week, so I apologise I wasn’t here for the Administrative Professionals Day celebrations on Friday 6 May.

Administrative Professional Day is celebrated worldwide to celebrate our devoted administration staff and to simply say thank you. As part of this day, we are recognising staff excellence and achievements of individuals and teams who make a significant contribution and demonstrate a strong commitment to our values.

Congratulations to the STARS and QARC teams who won the Consumer Engagement Award at the 2022 Metro North Research Excellence Awards for the ‘Implementation of the intensive Comprehensive High Dose Aphasia Treatment (CHAT) into clinical rehabilitation’ project.

We received a letter from the Metro North Hospital and Health Board Chair Mr Jim McGowan AM congratulating us on our successful accreditation result.

Today, Wednesday 30 March, we celebrate Doctors’ Day. I would like to mark this occasion (albeit a little late) by recognising and thanking all our doctors across STARS for your hard work, dedication and commitment to our patients.

Nominations for the 2022 Metro North Research Excellence Awards are now open. These awards celebrate and recognise the invaluable contribution and incredible achievements made by our researchers.

Metro North has requested that STARS commission the opening and running of part of Ward 6C as a GEMS and/or rehabilitation ward to assist with bed capacity across the network. On Tuesday 5 April, we will progressively receive 12 patients from Ward 1G at TPCH.

As of 7am today, Wednesday 23 March 2022, Metro North Health has moved back to Tier 3 of our COVID-19 response plan to allow us to focus on critical service delivery.

I have some great news! Yesterday we had the verbal end of accreditation presentation by our surveyors. I am delighted to tell you that we received no formal recommendations around improvements to our service and have effectively passed our first ACHS survey with flying colours.

Tomorrow (Thursday 17 March 2022) is National Close the Gap Day. This day acknowledges the Close the Gap Campaign, which aims to close the health and life expectancy gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation.

As you know our accreditation survey by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) runs this week from Monday to Thursday (14-17 March). Some of you may have met the survey team already. The team are spending most of their time in the hospital talking to staff in both clinical and non-clinical areas. They may come and ask you questions, but they mostly want to see how we provide excellent patient-focussed care – feel free to showcase what you do.

As you all know, STARS will undergo an accreditation survey by the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) next week from Monday 14 March until Thursday 17 March. STARS achieved interim accreditation last year, and the outcome of this survey will determine our ongoing accreditation status.

The intent of this standard is to ensure that we protect our patients from hospital acquired infections whilst in our care. This includes things such as hand hygiene, cleaning, sterilisation, staff health, aseptic technique, transmission based precautions and how we prescribe and deliver antimicrobials.

A recap on one of the most important standards for clinical care – STANDARD 5

Our first full accreditation against the NSQHS Standards is next week from 14 - 17 March (just five days away).

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we continue to work through yet another challenging situation. Due to the current predicted weather event, we are making plans to ensure the safety of our patients and staff. I know this may cause stress or anxiety for some people, so I ask you all to remember our #WeAreSTARS values as we work through this together.

Thank you for all continuing to step up and support our patients and each other during the last few days. This has been a challenging situation for everyone and for the community, and I’m grateful for your continued efforts and for remembering our values as we work through this together.

Thank you to everyone who has worked through the last few days to ensure we could continue to look after our patients. There has been an incredible amount of support and effort from our staff, quite a number of whom could not get home, so stayed with us and did extra shifts. I am very grateful to you all. I would also like to give a special thank you to our Cushman & Wakefield staff who went to great efforts to ensure our building remained safe and operational over the weekend and into today.

Due to the ongoing weather event and flash flooding STARS has cancelled all Outpatients, Surgical and Procedural Services, GE and Day Hospital clinics tomorrow (Monday 28 February).

It’s been another busy week for STARS with activity starting to pick up. While it might feel like things are beginning to return to normal, please remember that we are still very much operating in a pandemic environment.

There has been a slight amendment to the dates for our STARS NSQHS accreditation. The assessors are all able to attend STARS from 14-17 March, a week later than previously advised.

This week marks one year since we opened the doors to STARS and commenced operations – and what a year it’s been! Over the last twelve months, STARS has overcome many challenges to commence and deliver new services and new models of care - during a pandemic. Throughout this time, you have all shown great resilience, flexibility and commitment to exceptional and innovative person-centred care. You’ve contributed to great health outcomes for patients (and our community), and STARS has significantly value added to Metro North Health’s capacity through its new and expanded health services.

As you will all know, our STARS NSQHS accreditation was due to occur next week from 8-11 February 2022. Due to the current COVID-19 situation in Australia, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare have offered a short extension for our survey. As we want to ensure our staff and patients are safe during this, and still maintain the excellent momentum towards accreditation, we have accepted a four-week postponement.

STARS's first full accreditation against the NSQHS Standards is in eight days from 8 - 11 February 2022.

Please note the guide for PPE selection section of the Infection prevention and control guidelines for the management of COVID-19 in healthcare settings (Version 3.0 25 January 2022) has been updated to include the following: An apron or a non-fluid resistant gown may be used in situations where physical contact is minimal and there is little change of body fluid splash (e.g. medication delivery, observations, fever clinics).

STARS's first full accreditation against the NSQHS Standards is, as you know, 8-11 February (in 10 days).

As we have been looking after a number of COVID-19 patients in STARS over the last few weeks, we have stood up a COVID-19 Red Zone in Ward 4B, which will be dedicated to caring for these patients.

Thank you all for continuing to work so diligently and compassionately as we continue with the ongoing changes and challenges of COVID-19.

A warm hello to you all, and I hope you are coping in these changing, busy times. Today there are 19,932 new cases in Queensland, and modelling suggests we are moving towards a peak of the current surge at the end of January.