Adj Assoc Prof Jackie Hanson, Chief Executive, Metro North Health

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 would like today to remind all of Metro North that core to our business is delivering safe, quality and timely care to our patients. With this in mind, I draw your attention to NSQHS Standard 5 which is Comprehensive Care. The purpose of this standard is to drive a coordinated approach to the delivery of total healthcare required or requested by the patient. Care is intended to be aligned to the express goals and healthcare needs, and consider the effect and impact of care on the patient’s or carer’s life and wellbeing.

Michele Gardner, Metro North Executive Director Safety, Quality, Clinical Governance and Risk, and I will soon commence a series of vidcasts on safety and quality which will include some insights into the standards that drive our business and some patient stories. These will be recorded as well as live and I encourage you to tune in or watch later.

Today Queensland Health announced the winners of the Queensland Health Awards for Excellence. Congratulations to Metro North’s finalist teams Green Metro North (Advancing Sustainability) and QoVAX – Digitally integrated system to track COVID-19 vaccine and health outcomes (Pursuing Innovation).

The Metro North Staff Excellence Awards nominations will open next week, so put your thinking caps on. Tickets for the awards will go on sale soon. The event will be held on Friday 9 December at Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.

As we continue on our health equity journey, Metro North Health, with the assistance of the MN Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander oversight committee, is working on establishing feedback processes for our Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community, developing and implementing an anti-racism campaign, and ensuring the inclusion of the perspectives of our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. Funding has been provided and recruitment will be underway to establish roles to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff in an improved culturally safe environment. You can find our Health Equity Strategy online.

Our #NextCare Health Conference is only a few months away. This week the full program has been released featuring a wide range of speakers from different industries. Early bird registration is still available. You can see the program and ticket options at nextcarehealthconference.com.au

As always, a big shout out to you all for your efforts this week and I hope you get to enjoy your weekend whatever you are doing.

Warm regards,

Jackie