Our Telehealth program at Northern Health is celebrating its second year in operation.

Telehealth was introduced to the health service two years ago, as part of our response to COVID-19 and as a strategy to support patients attending our Specialist Clinics (Outpatients).

Now, Telehealth is used in multiple departments including sub-acute services, inpatient wards, community programs, Virtual Emergency Department (ED) and our Transcultural and Language Services (TALS) team.

Telehealth Coordinator, Tracey Webster, said Telehealth has given more time back to patients.

“Patients have been able to have appointments by televideo or telephone instead of face-to-face. It has been very well received by Northern Health patients,” she said.

“We have received positive feedback from patients. In a survey where 248 patients responded – 86 per cent of patients agreed or strongly agreed that their appointment by Telehealth saved them travel time, 83 per cent of patients strongly agreed or agreed that they felt comfortable asking questions during their Telehealth appointment and 70 per cent of patients strongly agreed or agreed that they felt the received the same standard or care as they would have from a face-to-face consultation.”

Over the past two years, Telehealth has been an important asset to Northern Health, as innovative new services are implemented including our Virtual ED.

“Virtual ED has really been a success story with Telehealth. The model of care is very safe using Telehealth,” Tracey said.

“We use Telehealth in our inpatient areas for family meetings, secondary consults which can prevent unnecessary transfers and virtual visiting. We also use it on our sub-acute areas such as home care packages, HARP and home dialysis services to troubleshoot or provide additional education without the nurse having to drive to the home.”

Going forward, Tracey said she is always looking at way to improve the Telehealth service at Northern Health, including how to better educate staff on the use and importance of Telehealth.

“We are reviewing the education for staff and hope to have an LMS module added soon. This has been created in conjunction with other health services so that clinicians would only need to complete the LMS at one health service,” she said.

Some patient feedback on Telehealth:

“Telehealth is from the comfort of home and it’s easier for my child.”

“It saved me time, didn’t have to take time off work.”

“Do not have to wait in a waiting room with others.”

“I could go about my work at home until the call was made.”

“Saved on travel time and parking. It is less stressful.”

Featured image: A patient conducting a hand therapy Telehealth appointment with a Northern Health clinician.

Northern Health recently closed our mass vaccination hub at Plenty Ranges Arts & Convention Centre (PRACC).

PRACC was opened in June 2021 in collaboration with City of Whittlesea to help vaccinate as many community members as possible during the early stages of the vaccine rollout in Victoria.

Over the last 12 months, Northern Health has provided over 340,000 vaccines to the community.

On behalf of all staff at the vaccination hub, Shanice Molinaro, Nurse Unit Manager, expressed her gratitude to a number of teams across Northern Health for their incredible work during this time.

“A very big thank you to you and all of your teams. It would not have been possible to administer over 340,000 doses to our community without all of yours and your teams support!” she said.

Shanice explained the vaccination hub at PRACC involved a lot of collaboration across Northern Health, including input from nursing staff, pharmacy, ISS, security, concierge, cleaning staff and ward clerks.

When asked what she is most proud of during her time at PRACC, Shanice said, “The amount of vaccines we have administered to our community and the effective processes that were ever changing at the hub. All of the staff involved and the adaptability of everyone.”

Over the course of working at PRACC, the team’s biggest challenge was the continuous changes and regulations in responding to the current COVID-19 situation.

“The entire vaccination hub experience was memorable. The team was incredible. I specifically remember in September 2021 when our vaccination lines and demand was high and the team banded together extremely well to work through it. Most staff stayed back to assist until midnight,” Shanice explained.

Throughout it all, our staff played a huge role in keeping the community safe during the pandemic and we are very proud of them.

Some feedback from the community include:

“Thanks for all the staff that have been involved. I’ve been in the line three times and it was so smoothly run – well done!”

“An amazing team who worked so very hard. You all deserve a medal.”

“Such an amazing job done by our amazing staff – you should all be so very proud of your amazing work ethic.”

Featured image: Our dedicated volunteers welcoming community members at PRACC

Last Thursday evening, Northern Health hosted their annual Thank You Event to thank and acknowledge the generous support from our patrons and community over the past 12 months.

The event was held at Seafarers Residences Display Suite in Docklands, and was attended by Debra Bourne, Chief Operating Officer, Northern Health and Northern Health Foundation Board Directors, Northern Health Executive, staff and volunteers and Northern Health Foundation Patrons Josie Minniti, Bev Carman and Trudi Hay.

“Tonight, we acknowledge the efforts of our generous supporters and donors, and their contributions to the Northern Health Foundation. It is an opportunity for us to say thank you,” said Pina Di Donato, Acting Executive Director Public Affairs and Foundation.

This event was an extra special event, as it was the first face-to-face event hosted by the Foundation in 12 months due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We all know how challenging the past few years have been. The circumstances made it necessary to turn our attention to just getting through it in the best way possible,” said Pina.

“But throughout that time, more than ever, our health service and our staff felt supported by the community.”

Peter McWilliam, Deputy Chair, Northern Health Foundation, said, while it has been a challenging year for fundraising, the Foundation was able to fund almost $650,000 last year to support the health service.

“I would like to extend my sincerest gratitude to all of our generous supporters, patrons and corporate partners, dedicated volunteers, Northern Health staff and everyone who has contributed towards our fundraising efforts through donations, grants and support at out events,” he said.

“As the demand for health services in the north continues to increase, the Foundation will continue to do all it can to support Northern Health to provide outstanding healthcare for our community.”

A special thanks to Riverlee and in particular Tricia Lee and the Lee family for hosting the event at their spectacular venue.

Northern Health Foundation successfully fulfilled its commitments to Northern Health in 2021. Vital medical equipment was funded for our cancer services, including the purchase of additional car for the NOAH@Home Program, so that more cancer and haematology patients can receive chemotherapy and other supporting treatments from the comfort of their own home. The money for the car was raised through the Dry July campaign, with the Northern Health team raising almost $32,000.

Northern Health set up a Caring for Kids space, to help families who had to be separated during the height of the pandemic. Our local community came together by donating toys and other essential items for children in this space.

Our sponsors also continued to support our PhD scholarships and research programs.

The theme of the evening was ‘Be Part of our History’ – calling on our community and supporters to join us as Northern Health and Northern Health Foundation continues to be an innovation health service now and into the future.

The evening also included a presentation from Neil Strugnell, Head of Colorectal Surgery, to talk about the Foundation’s 2022-23 fundraising campaign for a new Colorectal Lab at Northern Health. This equipment will improve women’s health outcomes and the outcomes of patients with inflammatory bowel disease.

Watch the video below to hear firsthand experiences of staff and volunteers, and how they managed through the COVID-19 pandemic.

Featured image: Jake Gelvezon, Associate Nurse Unit Manager, Pandemic Ward

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The LISN (Learning Improvement Science at Northern Health) workshop has returned after a two-year pause due to the pandemic.

The LISN program is a full day, face-to-face workshop run by the Transformation Unit in the NCHER building. The program incorporates theoretical content on improvement science, including understanding value and waste, built in quality, continuous flow, pull systems and levelling.

“The theory is incorporated into a live simulation of a Day Procedure Unit. Every attendee on the day has an active role in the simulation,” explains Laura Hughes, Project Manager.

The LISN program is a foundation pillar of the Transformation Unit in supporting Northern Health on its journey to becoming a High Reliability Organisation (HRO).

“The session is designed for small teams or individuals to attend. They would be working on improving processes or solving problems in their work area, and be able to return to work with some new skills to apply,” Laura explained.

Amanda Strangwick, Patient Experience Coordinator, attended the first LISN workshop this year, as she was interested in looking at different ways of improvement.

“I was interested in improvement from a system point of view – or a department point of view, rather than the individual. This has been a really interesting workshop and it was good to see how we can improve by changing systems and whole team attitude, by looking at workflow and identifying errors. It’s about learning how to approve as a whole team,” she explained.

Derwin Or, Quality Coordinator, Emergency Services, attended the workshop with his whole team.

“I expected to just look at slides all day, but it was actually very different and engaging. We are looking at what we have and how we can change to make it more efficient, and try to think outside the box. I’ve realised how small changes can make a big impact. People in management roles should definitely attend, as they are the ones who can implement these changes. Also, people on the floor should come, as great ideas can come from anyone,” he explained.

LISN was designed in 2015 and is available to Northern Health staff via the bookings information below.

“The day is action packed and whether you have had a little exposure to improvement science or a lot, there is so much that you are able to learn from the day. It is also a great way to meet and learn from others that work in different areas of the health service, and is open to clinical and non-clinical staff,” Laura added.

The day is co-facilitated by a former Northern Health employee, Simon Lane, currently working in improvement at The Royal Children’s Hospital, and Transformation Unit staff, Laura Hughes and Tracey Martin.

If you would like more information on the program, what it offers, or how to book, email lisn.hro@nh.org.au. The dates for upcoming sessions are: 3 May, 17 May, 14 June. The team will be offering more sessions in the second half of 2022. Please register your interest for more dates as soon as possible.

The first round of ‘Big Idea 2022’ submissions is now closed, with 84 ideas received from a wide range of departments across the organisation. Twenty-two of these ideas were selected for refinement and 11 will advance for scoping and implementation. Some ideas are being implemented immediately.

One of them is an idea from Dr Sian Cole, Senior Health Psychologist, who noticed a number of her ward patients were asking about getting their phones charged, but access to chargers was limited and inconsistent.

“With the visitor restrictions, patients have been socially isolated and social needs are an important part of how humans cope with stress. Not being able to charge their phones was isolating patients even further. If we could have access to chargers, patients would feel less lonely,” she said.

While looking around her home, Dr Cole realised she had a whole collection of spare chargers, and thought others might as well. When the idea sparked, she submitted it to the Big Idea portal.

“I don’t think many people plan hospital admission, so they are not packing chargers, so it would be a great idea if we could offer them chargers here,” she added.

“As soon as I submitted the Big Idea, people immediately started commenting and asking why we haven’t thought about this before. I am glad we are acting on this now – the sooner the better,” she said.

The donation campaign will run in the next three weeks.

“I am really excited that it got picked up and that it is running so quickly. It will really help patients,” she added.

Sarah Monaghan, Management Intern, has been working with Cassie Bramston, Project Manager, on developing some of the Big Ideas.

“We thought this is a great, doable idea that will improve patient experience in our hospital. The Executive really love the idea, and the simplicity of it. Depending on what we get from the staff, we’ll reassess if we need to take the campaign externally, to the community,” she said.

If you have a spare phone charger to donate to our wards, please drop it off at the main reception at each of the four campuses.

Staff, patients and visitors to Northern Health have a healthier selection of food and drink in all of the vending machines across the health service.

Northern Health made the switch to Provender – a fresh food vending machine company – to provide the healthier options.

Our new vending machines offer a range of muesli slices, natural nuts, protein bars and low calorie, low sugar and gluten free options.

The food and drinks available in the new machines have been carefully selected to meet the Victorian Department of Health’s Healthy Choices Policy Directive.

From 30 September 2022, vending machines across Victorian health services will be no longer allowed to sell high sugar drinks and must limit artificially sweetened drinks. In 2023, the criteria will expand to include limits on unhealthy food in vending machines.

Rachael Evans, Associate Director Dietetics, said workplaces were increasingly realising the importance of making healthy food and drink choices more accessible.

“Making healthier choices easier, through changes to the options available in our vending machines, is an important step in increasing access to health foods and drinks in the places where people spend their time,” she said.

“It also aligns with Northern Health’s strategic priority of a healthier community.”

Sandra Molinaro, Manager Support Services, said she was looking forward to working with Provender to provider healthier drinks and snacks for our community.

“I am keen to see a fresh new look and the delicious snack options that will be available,” she said.

Provender is also offering discounts and special offers for staff who use the Monyx Payment App. Click here to download the app to start earning rewards and discounts each time you use the vending machines.

“The new choices, along with the staff discount and reward system, will be a welcome update to vending services for Northern Health,” Sandra said.

For a list of product options and their traffic light rating, visit our Intranet page.

Featured image: Sandra Molinaro, Manger Support Services, Rachael Evans, Associate Director Dietetics and Tom Wing, Provender Franchise Owner

Meet Sandy, the latest innovation at Northern Health.

Sandy is a LeoScrub, a robotic floor scrubber, designed to bring cleaning efficiencies to the health service.

Northern Health is also the first health service across Australia to have Sandy implemented into hospital operations.

Saj Amerasinghe, ISS Key Account Manager, said Sandy will allow hospital cleaners to redivert their focus on other jobs and find efficiencies while Sandy scrubs the floor.

“If staff are wanting to clean the main foyer, that takes about 45 minutes. But we can get the LeoScrub to do that job, and have staff for 45 minutes, do something else.”

“We don’t want to take away from anyone’s job, but to utilise that time productively on another cleaning task.”

Sandy has become a permanent fixture at Northern Health. She is currently being trialed at Northern Hospital Epping to measure accuracy before implementing more LeoScrubs across other Northern Health sites.

“We have trialed it at Entry 5 and the main foyer and my plan is to trial it at CSSD and Outpatient corridors during non-operational hours,” Saj said.

“We also need to make sure it doesn’t interrupt the hospital operations – we can’t have it blocking patients’ way.”

“So far, we’ve had a positive response. We’ve had cleaning staff here for 18 years and they were so happy to see the machine because they could focus on something else.”

“The sustainability of the LeoScrub is also going to benefit Northern Health in the long run.”

Sandy uses 70 per cent less water than other cleaning robots, while achieving the same high cleaning results. Sandy leaves behind much drier floors than current solutions due to stronger water extraction to provide safer surroundings.

Sandy is also the first robot in the world to clean exclusively with Z water – a professional cleaning chemical that is safe and environmentally friendly.

Sandy is more than just a scrubber. She is programmed to talk to people and remind us to maintain social distancing, wear a mask and keep up good hand hygiene.

Sandy can sing songs, Christmas carols and say jokes by scanning the QR code on the LeoScrub, and selecting from a programmed list.

“It can do lots of things. You can also program it to be a concierge by parking it somewhere and helping out with directions,” Saj said.

“We can always look into that in the future, but we want to make sure for now that it does the job of scrubbing.”

Sandy has a five-hour run time, and can run for a total of 15 hours in one day, with two hour charge times.

“Our plan is to have a few more chargers so you don’t have to move chargers across the hospital,” Saj said.

Northern Health is working with Safer Care Victoria, Acute Pain Service (APS) and surgical teams to create a pilot program focusing on analgesic stewardship across Northern Hospital, aiming to produce significant, positive changes for our patients.

Danni Miatke, Project Lead and Grade 3 Analgesic Stewardship Pharmacist, explained one of the priority actions for Australia, on the basis of World Health Organization recommendations and the global patient safety challenge, is to develop a national guideline for high-risk medicines, with analgesics and opioids a part of this.

“We are looking at safer ways to prescribe and administer opioids and other analgesics within the hospital, and, in particular, looking at peri-surgical patients, and how we prescribe strong analgesics before and after surgery. We are also looking at the quantities and strengths we send patients home with,” she explained.

This state-wide, multi-site project includes six selected health services across Victoria – Northern Health, Eastern Health, Albury-Wodonga Health, Barwon Health, Melbourne Health and Peninsula Health.

“It’s a very fast turnaround with this project, and we are hoping to prove change within 18 weeks,” Danni added.

Some of the tasks the team is facing now is setting up an analgesic stewardship committee, creating a new procedure to guide prescribing and providing education around this, as well as collecting data and proving the positive change.

“Probably the biggest challenge will be rolling out the education, and we will be targeting surgical units and patients,” she added.

Preliminary data the team has been working on has shown that surgical patients who have experienced an adverse event related to their analgesia had a four times longer stay in hospital compared to other patients that underwent similar surgery. This data highlights, not just the need for a program, but the need for change in analgesic prescribing and additional education around safety.

“We’d like to draw attention to the analgesic prescribing procedure that will soon be released and we’ll be rolling out education shortly as well. This is a great program for Northern Health, and we are lucky to be working with Safer Care Victoria on this, as not every health service that applied was selected to participate,” she added.

Anaesthetist and Pain Medicine Specialists, Dr Sarah Donovan and Dr Moira Rush, added their support to the program and highlighted the excellent opportunity for the service to promote safer and more effective analgesic use, as well as greater continuity of care through improvements in both patient education and information provided to primary health providers on discharge.

”While our patient population is complex and diverse, the stewardship program will assist with discharge prescription advice for all patients at Northern Health. We want to better engage with GPs to ensure that patient care is consistent across the acute and primary care settings,” Dr Rush added.

The Acute Pain Service (APS) and Pharmacy are confident that when the results of the pilot demonstrate the expected positive change, there will be support for an ongoing full-time Analgesic Stewardship Pharmacist, so the initiative can be expanded to cover the whole health service, regardless of the patient’s clinical team.