May 2020
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Strengthening Healthcare in the North
Northern Health and DPV Health are thrilled to announce they have signed a collaborative Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to support initiatives for innovation, shared service planning and delivery to benefit our growing communities. The MOU will establish a framework to strategically explore opportunities for both parties to collaborate and address priority health and wellbeing issues across outer Northern Melbourne. Working closely together, DPV Health and Northern Health have already commenced collaboration on a range of projects including: The establishment of a COVID-19 Screening Centre, operated by Northern Health at DPV Health’s Epping site in March 2020. Northern Health’s “Staying Well…
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A guard of honour for Jamie
Staff at Broadmeadows Hospital celebrated a wonderful achievement earlier this month, with a patient going home from Unit 2 – Rehabilitation after spending 288 days in hospital. Jamie was admitted to Northern Hospital Epping on 22 July 2019 after being found unconscious by his mother and fighting for life. The subsequent months saw Jamie struggling to walk, talk and be able to process his thoughts and emotions clearly, due to an acquired brain injury. “Since coming to hospital, Jamie moved through Emergency Department, ICU, Ward 5 and finally arrived to Rehabilitation at Broadmeadows Hospital in August 2019. During this time,…
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Palliative Care: It’s more than you think
The theme for Palliative Care Week 2020 is “Palliative Care… It’s more than you think”. Palliative care can help people with life-limiting illnesses to live as well as possible, for as long as possible – supporting their physical, emotional, spiritual and social needs. Alwyn Kennedy, currently a patient at our Palliative Care Unit (PCU) located at Heritage Epping Gardens, is a case in point. Alwyn came to the PCU after an increasingly difficult time at home and has been with us for just over a week. He was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease over six months ago and says he…
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Kiddy Car arrives to theatre
Children coming for surgery at Northern Hospital Epping can now drive into the operating theatre, thanks to the new Range Rover kiddy car, kindly donated in collaboration between Northern Health Foundation and Whittlesea Salvation Army. The idea for the kiddy car came from Dr Jenny Coulson, Anaesthetist at Northern Hospital. “As a group, we wanted to avoid kids getting stressed when they come into theatre and we thought the use of the car would make the kids happier when coming here,” she explained. Dr Coulson explained the car is a good idea as it provides transport around theatre area. By…
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Northern Health launches specialist ambulatory pleural service
The Northern Health Respiratory Department has launched a specialist ambulatory pleural service as part of its Pleural Medicine Unit – the only formalised service of its kind in Victoria. Pleural diseases occur when there is a problem in the chest cavity, the space between the lung and the chest wall. This often results in the production of fluid in the chest cavity (called pleural effusion) which can lead to breathlessness, chest pain and other symptoms. Fluid in the chest cavity may become infected (called empyema/pleural infection) and air from the lung may sometimes escape in to the chest cavity (called…
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Koala Kids supporting Northern Hospital Children’s Ward
The Children’s Ward at Northern Hospital are grateful for the support they have received recently from Koala Kids Foundation – a volunteer-driven organisation that provides “small things that make a difference to the lives of children and young people.” “Koala Kids contacted us about a month ago – they are a foundation that traditionally supports children with cancer and their families and the health care team who support them, and they had started reaching out to general paediatric units,” said Courtney Lowry, Children’s Ward Nurse Unit Manager. Since linking in with Koala Kids, the Children’s Ward has received an abundance…
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HITH expands services to include home iron infusions
The Northern Health Hospital in the Home (HITH) team have expanded their services to include offering iron infusions to eligible patients in the comfort of their own home. HITH began offering infusions to patients who were already receiving treatment in their home for other reasons but also required an infusion, so the service helps patients stay at home longer and avoid extra travel including potentially having to come into hospital for one day. “Some of the people who are frail were finding it difficult to travel to get their iron infusion done so it is more convenient to see those…
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Hardworking teams are not in short supply: Farewell Rishad
Procurement and Supply is responsible for third-party spending in the organisation, which totals approximately $180 million annually. A significant part of their function includes the management of consumables for wards, theatres, emergency, ICU and specialist clinics. Rishad Syed has been Director of Procurement and Supply for three years. “Supply is all about continuity of service and COVID-19 has challenged our ability to keep the supply chain working, but I am glad to say we have managed. The biggest test has been ensuring adequate personal protection equipment. Initially we relied on our wide network of vendors to meet our demand including…