2021
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Dedicated Twins Clinic launches
Someone once said, “So many good things come in pairs, like ears, socks and panda bears. But, best of all are the set of twins, with extra laughter, double grins.” Today, Northern Health launched a new antenatal clinic led by Obstetrician Dr Allison Choong, dedicated specifically to caring for twins pregnancies. “When we look back at it, in a quiet year we have 19 sets of twins and a busy year of 25 sets of twins. I hadn’t even properly started the twin clinic and I already managed eight sets of twins in the last two months.” The new antenatal…
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How innovation happens
With our Virtual Emergency Department the first of its kind in Australia, Northern Health is leading digital transformation in health care. Hospitals across the state are now expressing interest to implement our model, with our staff actively sharing expertise and experience. The innovation space is booming, accelerated by the pandemic and supported by hard work and fresh ideas that come from clinicians and the project management team. Ariana Carrodus, Project Manager, has been making ideas happen and is happy to share the Ideas Lab is now back up and running. “Since 2017, Northern has had physical Ideas Lab space, which…
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Telehealth Hub launched
Northern Health’s Telehealth Hub is now in operation. The hub is a new, redesigned and dedicated space where clinicians can use a video call or phone to have appointments with patients, if they don’t need to see them face to face. The telehealth clinic hours will be morning and afternoon, 8.30 am – 12.30 pm and 1 pm – 5 pm, Monday to Friday. Tracey Webster, Telehealth Project Officer, explained having a dedicated hub reduces the need for clinicians to use a whole clinical room, and hubs have been found to be efficient and effective, while being in line with…
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Northern Hospital’s new state of the art kitchen is now live!
On Wednesday, 3 February 2021, our food services department seamlessly moved into their new state of the art industrial kitchen. The new kitchen is one of the first areas in Stage 2 of the Northern Hospital Expansion Project to officially go live. Led by Director of Support Services, Greg Warman, the team transitioned smoothly on Wednesday morning into their new space on the ground floor of the new building. “The move went perfectly. The team worked exceptionally well and exceptionally hard and we couldn’t be happier with the outcome,” Greg expressed. “Nobody noticed that we had moved, which is what…
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Q&A with Judy Harris
Judy Harris is the new Nurse Unit Manager (NUM) at the Haemodialysis Unit, Broadmeadows Hospital and Craigieburn Centre. Can you tell us a bit about where you worked before Northern Health? I was an Associate Nurse Unit Manager in dialysis at a private clinic in Greensborough, and I was there for 12 years. What attracted you to Northern Health? I think it’s a really great organisation, where there is a lot of opportunity and this area has huge growth. I somehow see Northern Health like a new health service, even though I know it has been here a long time,…
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Tomorrow is World Cancer Day
Tomorrow is World Cancer Day – an opportunity to raise worldwide attention for cancer, and inspire action for prevention, detection and treatment. Cancer has a significant impact on our society and is one of the leading causes of death in Australia. Melissa Gwynne, Day Oncology Nurse Unit Manager, explained the importance of recognising World Cancer Day. “Cancer has touched so many lives, either directly or indirectly. It’s important to raise the awareness of what we can do as a community and as individuals to reduce the risks of cancer,” Melissa said. Northern Health Cancer Services are committed to providing the…
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Join Steve in the HRO Champions Network
Steve Ferguson is the new Project Officer in Project Management / High Reliability Organisation (HRO) office, and a member of the HRO Champions Network, whose passion for patient care led to his involvement in quality and improvement projects. “I was always interested in improving patient care and curious about how we were doing things and if something can be done better. Coming from a clinical background, project management appealed to me as I could see it as a different way of achieving the same goal – the best possible patient care,” he said. Steve initially started working at Northern as…
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Dr Kim Pham wins Chris Maxwell Medal
On the evening of 22 January 2021, the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology virtually held the annual Chris Maxwell medal competition for the best registrar case presentation. “This was the first time we had held the event remotely and we had more people than usual attend, so by any measure the evening was a great success,” explained Dr Paul Howat, Divisional Director – Women’s and Children’s Services. Topics presented on included primary hyperparathyroidism diagnosed in labour, emergency presentation of germ cell tumours in young women, unusual causes of genital ulceration and pulmonary haemorrhage in pregnancy. “These are all rare conditions…