Did you know that delirium and falls are a major cause of harm to our patients?

Falls and delirium lead to injuries, longer hospital stays and increased need for support after discharge. While we are already working to prevent falls, fall-related injuries and delirium, there is more to be done.

Luckily, there is one simple thing everyone can do to help.

Let the light in.

“Inadequate lighting leads to falls, because people can’t see their way around and are more likely to slip or trip,” said Dr Kim Jeffs, Northern Health Geriatrician.

“Low levels of light during the day can also contribute to delirium, by disrupting the sleep-wake cycle. If there isn’t sufficient light during the day – especially natural light – the brain doesn’t get into a proper night sleep rhythm. Subsequently, the lack of sleep leads to the brain not functioning properly,” she said.

“When you are on the wards, open the blinds, turn on the lights and let the light in.”

The idea of highlighting “Let the light In” came from last week’s Chief Executive’s Ideas Forum – where a number of ideas around eliminating patient harm during a hospital stay were  developed.

The Northern Health FluVax campaign concluded on Sunday after two months of a proactive campaign to ensure maximum protection for our staff and our community.

Last year influenza had a profound impact with increased hospital presentations, GP attendances and absenteeism across the Victorian community.

As a key part of our Winter Strategy Northern Health made the decision to do things differently by proactively promoting and providing influenza vaccinations.  Our strategy was to protect staff, patients and our community, aligning with Northern Health’s priority of ‘staying well’ and Victoria’s Health 2040 strategy of better health and access.

We believed that by providing free immunisation to the family and friends of our patients and staff, greater herd immunity would provide improved wellbeing in our community and in particular, keep our vulnerable patients protected from influenza infection. We ordered additional vaccine in early February that was able to sustain us right through to the end of the campaign period.

90% of our staff received the vaccine along with 11,000 community members and over 1,000 admitted patients. This is a magnificent result.

Congratulations to Jodi Ashworth and Ros Payne for leading this initiative – and all staff involved.

I hope you all have a great week ahead.

Siva Sivarajah
Chief Executive

Our congratulations to Leanne Shannon, Nurse Unit Manager of the Kath Atkinson Ward at Bundoora, who was named a finalist in this year’s national HESTA Aged Care Awards. Leanne is a finalist in the individual distinction category, recognised for implementing a range of strategies to improve the safety and wellbeing of patients and staff on the high-risk dementia ward.

The winners are announced at an award ceremony this month. Good luck Leanne!

Northern Health celebrated our Indigenous community during NAIDOC Week with an exhibition in the foyer of Northern Hospital Epping throughout the week and a special event held on Wednesday, 11 July.

This year’s NAIDOC theme is ‘Because of her, we can!’ and the audience heard from a number of local Aboriginal women about the strong women who have inspired and influenced their lives.

Northern Health Chief Executive, Siva Sivarajah, said NAIDOC Week is an opportunity to celebrate our cultural diversity and this year, to acknowledge the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

“Northern Health is committed to providing holistic and culturally appropriate services, improving health and wellbeing and strengthening connections with our diverse community.”

Beginning of August marks the World Breastfeeding Week, with the slogan “Foundation of Life” emphasising that in a world filled with crisis and poverty, breastfeeding is a foundation for lifelong good health both for babies and mothers. This year, WBW aligned its campaign with United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, promoting breastfeeding as a way to prevent malnutrition, ensure food security even in times of crisis and break the cycle of poverty.

Our dedicated maternity and women’s health staff are doing an amazing job every day at supporting mothers and babies during their delicate first days.

“We understand while breastfeeding is natural for the baby, sometimes mothers may need more support”, Natalie Mckell, Clinical Coordinator Domiciliary and Lactation at Northern Health said.

Four lactation consultants at Northern are helping mothers learn how to successfully breastfeed and maintain lactation even when they are separated from infants, for example when they are returning to work.

Through breastfeeding classes available both at the Northern Hospital and at the Craigieburn Health Service, mothers can get help during pregnancy, while in hospital and afterwards.

The northern community counts the second largest Aboriginal population in the metropolitan region.
 Picture shows Aboriginal community leaders and representatives with Northern Health Board directors and senior leadership to discuss the Northern Health Reconciliation Action Plan.

On Wednesday 11 July,  Northern Health conducted its first-ever Safe Practice Forum. This multidisciplinary session was an analysis of an incident at Northern Health, examining the issues with system or process. This involves identifying the reasons of the incident, and building in new and improved processes so the incident does not recur, thereby improving patient outcomes.
Speaking at the forum were Bill Shearer, Executive Director, Transformation Quality & Safety, Dean Pritchard, Emergency Physician and Ortis Estacio, HMO2.

The forum was well attended with high audience participation. One such participant was Sandy Ayoub, Pharmacist, who had this to say,”I found the forum to be valuable and definitely worth attending!”