Since taking on the role of Executive Director at Community and Oral Health, I’ve been meeting some wonderful people – all dedicated to improving the health and wellbeing of their patients, residents and communities.  In the weeks and months to come, I’m looking forward to getting to know the Oral Health side of the directorate even better too.

As many of you will know Tami has now taken on the role of Executive Director over at The Prince Charles Hospital.  She tells us that everyone has been very welcoming there – and that while she’s missing us all, she’s very much enjoying the pace at one of the largest hospitals in South East Queensland.

In taking on the role here at COH, I’ve handed over to Michelle Stute as our new Senior Director of Clinical Operations.  Mary Wheeldon has now also taken on a new as Director of Operations for COVID Clinical Response.  Mary’s work with the Metro North Virtual COVID Ward has also been recognised win the Premier’s Awards for Excellence – you can read all about that in this edition.

At this month’s Metro North Hospital and Health Board meeting, I was very proud to share a patient story that showed the depth of our commitment to our patients and residents.  It was about how our nursing staff at Cooinda House had worked closely with hospital clinicians, and undertaken additional training to create a unique outcome for one patient/resident.

There are so many stories like this – and I think it’s important that we share more of them.  If you know of an example of how our team have done something exceptional for our patients and residents, tell us about it.

Finally, with Metro North hospitals and inpatient facilities all working hard to respond to a surge in clinical demand, there’s added interest and attention being paid to Hospital in the Home (HITH).   Many of you will remember that we started the conversation last year about how we are going to position HITH better by aligning them with our Post-Acute Care Service (PACS), Community Palliative Care (CPC) and nurse practitioner wound clinics under a new banner – Better at Home Healthcare.  We’ll have more to talk about there soon.