July 2020
-
Strategic priority 2: A healthier community
Northern Health’s Strategic Plan 2020-24 has five priorities, including our commitment to A healthier community. A healthier community sets our goals towards working with patients, staff and partners to embed the concept of ‘Staying Well’, both in hospital based and community care. This includes a holistic and integrated approach to health care that will help addresses the needs of patients with complex conditions. Briana Baass, Chief Allied Health Officer said the goal of a healthier community is about improving the quality of people’s lives. “It’s about working with our patients and really understanding what matters to them,” she said. A/Prof…
-
Our contact tracing team
Since the start of the pandemic, our infection prevention team are the contact tracing team for COVID-19. “We educate staff on infection prevention strategies and support them in their clinical and non-clinical duties. Furthermore, we implement strategies to reduce the risk of transmission within the health care facility and now we also work on contact tracing,” explained Madelaine Flynn, Infection Prevention Manager. Contact tracing is the process of identifying any staff, patients or visitors who have come into contact with a confirmed COVID-19 case, without the appropriate precautions. “The infection prevention team become detectives and identify close contacts of a…
-
ICU looking after patients and each other
With the first mention of the new virus, our Intensive Care Unit was preparing and planning for all the ‘what if’ situations and increased patient numbers and activity. Narkitaa Van Ekeren, ICU Nurse Unit Manager, said the ICU team was also working closely with other departments on upskilling and training staff for the intensive care environments, while living our value Safe. “We knew that should demand require the expansion of ICU beyond our walls, we can’t do that alone and that it needs to be an organisational approach,” she said. All this planning has helped the ICU set up for…
-
Strategic priority 1: Safe, positive patient experience
Northern Health’s Strategic Plan 2020-24 has five priorities, and the first one is A safe, positive patient experience. Over the next three weeks, we will present each strategic priority. A safe, positive patient experience sets our goals towards our commitment to safety and reliability, and working together with patients, their families and carers to provide a positive patient experience. As an organisation, we aim to strengthen our quality and safety systems and develop strong relationships with patients. Dr Bill Shearer, Executive Director Quality, Safety and Transformation affirms Northern Health’s commitment to patient safety. “We will improve our quality and safety…
-
Safe: Our commitment to our patients and each other
Over the next three weeks, our stories will explain our new values safe, kind, together and how they relate to everything we do. These values reflect not only how we do our daily work, but also how we treat each other. Dr John Ferguson, Chief Medical officer explained the value safe shows our commitment to safe, reliable patient care. “Our commitment to safe in a clinical setting means we have an overriding commitment to providing best practice care that avoids risk and embraces mutual trust and cultural comfort”, Dr Ferguson said. Dr Ferguson added that safe means our staff are empowered to speak…
-
Living our values, every day
In achieving of our vision, ‘a healthier community, making a difference for every person, every day,’ the actions of our staff, volunteers and leaders are guided by our new values – safe, kind and together. Our values, along with Northern Health’s Strategic Plan 2020-24, were officially launched earlier this week, and will drive our approach to patient care, and each other. safe: We provide safe, trusted care for our patients. We are inclusive and culturally safe, celebrating the diversity of our staff and community. For Careena Newcastle, one of our consumers, safety is “about the safety of surroundings, cleanliness”, while Cameron Miller, ICU Nurse…
-
Volunteers fundraise to help Unit 3 patients
Patients at Unit 3 Broadmeadows Hospital now have a custom built staircase, thanks to our volunteer fundraising. The staircase was purchased for older patients to facilitate a safe and timely patient-centred discharge home. “To ensure patients are able to go up and down the stairs outside of a hospital environment, it was necessary for them to practise on stairs like these,” explained Kenneth Koh, Physiotherapist. Unit 3 patients are usually required to be transported from the unit down to the physiotherapy gym. “The Unit 3 patients are elderly and often have cognitive impairment so they would greatly benefit from receiving…
-
Central Specimen Reception (CSR): At the centre of COVID-19 testing
Prior to COVID-19, a busy day at Northern Pathology Victoria would be to register between 1200 to 1300 requests a day. “However with the latest outbreak and lockdown, we have seen the volume of testing increase quite dramatically. At one stage, we were processing approximately 1500 swabs a day” says, Dr Frank Hong, Director, Northern Pathology Victoria. “Every time we open a new fever clinic we have to decide if we are testing in-house or sending it out. The process we decide on today could change tomorrow or next week,” says Frank. “Our staff have been on this journey with us…