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 have experienced trying times since our first COVID-19 message to staff on 30 January 2020, by Dr Liz Rushbrook who provided strong leadership in the early stages.

But from the experience we have continued to evolve, demonstrating our ability to work with each other and uphold our values even when times were challenging.

I’d like to deeply thank and acknowledge our staff response during this time, with a special mention to our Incident Management Team and all our Incident Controllers during this period, including Louise O’Riordan who will stand down from this role today. Louise’s unwavering stewardship has seen us navigate the challenges of COVID-19 so much more easily and we are very grateful for her commitment to this role.

I received some praise for Louise from the executive at RBWH and I’d like to share it with you, as it summarises how integral she has been.

“We write to provide unsolicited feedback on the performance of Ms Louise O’Riordan in her role as MN Incident Controller. This role has demanded intelligence, flexibility, integrity, compassion and patience. She has displayed all these attributes admirably and consistently. She has communicated to a vast range of stakeholders with clarity, nuance and respect over a long period of time. She has managed disagreement, uncertainty and changing conditions with grace.

The team at the Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital are grateful for the work that Louise has done and for the way that she has done it. She is a credit to Metro North Health.”

I would also like to sincerely acknowledge and thank Dr Liz Rushbrook and MN EMBC who stood up our inaugural IMT and were there from the beginning, and all the executives behind the scenes who provided strong leadership during these unprecedented times.

While I can’t name each and every person who has played a part, here are just a few of the faces who have joined me every single day for the past 33 months on our IMT, where we have tackled the ever-changing COVID-19 situation together.

Public Holiday service delivery

Next Thursday, 22 September 2022 has been declared a public holiday, as a National Day of Mourning for Her Majesty The Queen.

We are seeking clarification on what this means for us as a health service. While we await this, please do not schedule any additional activity, however, please do not make any cancellations to already-booked activity. We will keep you informed as soon as we know more on what we can and can’t deliver on this day.

Spotlight on sepsis

Yesterday was World Sepsis Day which is important here at Metro North Health, as sepsis is a global health crisis affecting up to 50 million people a year – with one in five deaths worldwide associated with sepsis. It is the number one cause of death in hospitals and the number one cause of hospital readmissions.

Early recognition and treatment of sepsis can reduce mortality by 50 per cent though. This is why it’s important for us to learn the signs that may indicate sepsis and be aware of it in our patients. I remind you to educate those around you and keep sepsis top of mind when caring for people.

Child protection is for all of us

Metro North Health is committed to child safety and to ensure this, we would like all staff to have the necessary knowledge and skills to respond to situations where a child’s safety may be at risk. To support staff to respond, we now have a suite of mandatory training models for completion.

Based on your role, you will be required to complete one of the program’s three modules – non-clinical, clinical and clinical (high risk child protection areas). The training will be live from this Friday, so be sure to log in to TMS and complete the SaFE V2 module as soon as possible.

Health Equity

This week we also marked a critical point in our Health Equity journey, as we co-design an implementation plan that supports the key priorities and actions outlined in the Metro North Health Equity strategy.

Moora View Garden at Brighton Health Campus

I would like to acknowledge Michelle Crawford, NUM of the Brighton Brain Injury Unit, who has been passionately working on a healing garden at Brighton. I had the pleasure of attending the opening of the Moora (which means sheet of water) View Garden yesterday. Michelle was supported by Paul Drahm and gardening rock stars Ronnie and Joey and the COH RAP working party. Michelle has been working with her team at Brighton on what Health Equity means and how they might contribute to closing the gap, which is really great to hear.

Innovation and reform

Last week I highlighted the establishment of the Behavioural Emergency Response Team (BERT) through the Connecting Community Pathways funding.  Another initiative that was successful through this initiative is the establishment of the Urban Respiratory Indigenous Outreach Clinic.  In partnership with the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health, the clinics will deliver specialist respiratory care in a more culturally appropriate setting closer to home.

Work is progressing regarding our capital sprint infrastructure projects and I look forward to providing updates.

MN32

We are going to be refreshing our MN32 strategy and will be seeking your thoughts and innovative ideas on our future. Jane Hancock and I will conduct listening posts around Metro North Health over the next two months with more details provided in next week’s message.

I recognise we are in a rapidly changing landscape in the public health sector. I want to ensure you are kept up to date and we are working on a meaningful way we can communicate with our staff.

Thank you again for all your work, we are very lucky to have such great people here at Metro North Health.

Warm regards,

Jackie