It’s been a familiar story. Patient demand for health services across all areas of the Caboolture, Kilcoy and Woodford directorate continues to rise, combined with many staff furloughed due to illness.

Myself included this week, which has delayed my planned return to the office. A big thank you to Dr Simon Bugden who continued in the Executive Director role. I now hope to be back on-site on Monday (18 July).

Metro North Health facilities remain on Tier 3 of the new Metro North COVID-19 and Influenza Response Plan 2022.

This includes High Risk PPE for all clinical areas with a P2/N95 mask and protective eyewear (goggles) for all clinical areas. Outside of clinical areas, a surgical mask is appropriate, but you can wear an N95 mask for increased protection.

While we’re busy caring for the community, please ensure that you care for yourself as well. In the current environment it is easy to become overwhelmed, so if you are feeling like you need some extra support, I encourage you to reach out to one of our Care4You Peer Responders who are on hand to help.

Metro North Health Virtual ED

With clinical demand in our Emergency Department likely to remain high this winter, alternative patient pathways will become more and more important.

The Metro North Virtual ED provides an alternative emergency care pathway for patients who need urgent care but are not experiencing a life-threatening emergency. These patients receive the clinical attention they need without physically attending the hospital’s busy Emergency Department.

Metro North’s Virtual ED has been around since April 2020, beginning as part of our COVID-19 response, but now it’s successfully helping to reduce the number of face-to-face presentations to Metro North Emergency Departments each day.

Services like this are a win-win that provide patients with a faster and more flexible way to receive care while leaving our Emergency Departments for those who really need to be there.

I encourage everyone to look at the Virtual ED portal and find out more about how this service can work for our patients as well as ourselves, family and friends.

Care Collective also reducing ED demand

The Care Collective Caboolture is a joint program between Caboolture Hospital and Brisbane North PHN which aims to reduce demand on the Caboolture ED.

It is identifying patients who present to the ED at least twice in a year with common conditions such as COPD, chronic heart failure and debility (with a frailty score of five or higher).

In the first week of the program, 12 patients were identified who have now been referred to our Nurse Navigators and a range of services provided in primary and community care, including GPs.

There are further opportunities such as improving health literacy and enhancing access to ‘The Viewer’ so care plans can be uploaded by all services involved in the patient’s care. Great work!

Welcome Tracy

Welcome to Tracy Grant, who joins us on Monday as CKW’s Manager for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services.

Tracy joins us from the Metro North Health Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Leadership Team, where she has been working as a Principal Project Officer – Women’s Business. Welcome, Tracy!

Interpreter Services disruption

Metro North Health Interpreter Services continues to experience a temporary service disruption. To book interpreters during this time please phone 3115 6999 (in place of 3624 1257).

When calling please have your area cost centre ready as this is used to track bookings. If you are unaware of your cost centre, please ask your supervisor.

You may experience delays in reaching booking officers and obtaining booking details.

What a compliment!

Here’s a great compliment received through PREMS recently for our surgery team:

“The doctor that I saw was friendly and relaxed and happy to answer any questions. Then she brought in the surgeon who operated on me. I got to meet him and he was just as lovely and explained things and was excellent.”

Finally,

Are you looking for HR advice? Metro North Health’s ‘Ask HR’ initiative should have the answer!

It’s a great new service for all people-related enquiries. Members of the team are available from 8am to 5.30pm weekdays.

Reach out by calling 1800 275 275 (1800 ASK ASK) or email MNAskHR@health.qld.gov.au

Take Care,

Angie.