2021
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Occupational Therapy Day: Participation, Inclusion and Independence
Today is World Occupational Therapy Day. It is an opportunity to celebrate our Occupational Therapists (OT), and to educate the broader community on the value OTs provide. During 2021, Northern Health’s Occupational Therapy service expanded, with new roles in acute inpatients with the hospital expansion and also in the community and NDIS spaces. Northern Health employs over 80 Occupational Therapists who work across the service in various clinical and non-clinical settings including acute wards, rehab and GEM, Paediatrics, Community and Ambulatory Care and Hand Therapy. In addition, OTs work in other non-clinical areas including Education and OH&S. Our Occupational Therapists…
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Telehealth Awareness Month: How we care virtually
This month is Telehealth Awareness Month, aimed at promoting telehealth and virtual care for consumers and addressing digital inequity and digital literacy. Anton Harms, Senior Clinician, Physiotherapy, is one of many Northern Health staff using telehealth. He said he was keen to explore the use of telephone and video appointment with clients, prior to its introduction across the health service. “I had been considering using telehealth for the assessment and review for some patients prior to the COVID-19 related initiative, particularly videos as it was not available previously,” he said. As part of our COVID-19 response, Northern Health introduced telehealth…
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From South Africa to Melbourne
Last month, Northern Health welcomed Dr Marcelle Jagga and his wife Dr Charlotte Jagga from Cape Town, South Africa. They were recently invited to speak at the Victorian COVID-19 Press Conference about their move to Melbourne during the pandemic and how they can use their experience of Cape Town’s three COVID-19 waves to contribute to our current outbreak response. Marcelle is an anaesthetist and Charlotte is an emergency physician. “I think Australia is really lucky (in the sense) that they had a little bit of buffer and time to see what was going on in the rest of the world,…
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COVID Psychosocial Response Team
COVID-19 not only threatens the physical health of our COVID Ward inpatients, but also psychological health, with new research revealing varying degrees of post traumatic stress following infection. Family members of COVID inpatients are similarly at higher risk of psychological distress in association with isolation measures such as lockdowns and strict limitations on attending hospitals and funerals. Northern Health’s Allied Health social workers, psychologists and pastoral care workers have come together to establish the COVID Psychosocial Response Team to provide a range of psychosocial and bereavement supports for our COVID inpatients and family members. The team has assisted a significant…
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Thanking our PSAs and cleaners
Today we are celebrating our wonderful PSAs (Patient Services Assistants) and cleaners as part of Thank Your Cleaner Day. During the COVID-19 pandemic, our PSAs and ISS cleaners have played such an important role, ensuring hygiene and safety is at the forefront of our health service. Our cleaners at Northern Health comprise of both our PSAs, who are responsible for a variety of tasks including cleaning on the wards, cleaning beds when a patient is discharged and transportation throughout the hospital, and ISS Facility Services cleaning staff, keeping all Northern Health common areas and Emergency Department cleaned. We spoke to…
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Selective Internal Radiation Therapy: A first for Northern Health
One of the latest and highly specialised cancer treatment options available, known as SIRT (Selective Internal Radiation Therapy), was successfully performed at Northern Health on 13 October. Only a relatively small number of hospitals offer this treatment in Australia. Says Dr Terry Kok, Interventional Radiologist, “Our patient was diagnosed with liver cancer that was not suitable for surgical treatment and we were asked to provide minimally invasive treatment for his tumour. SIRT, also known as Y90 radioembolisation, was chosen to provide the best chance of curative treatment.” The complex procedure involved the combined Radiology and Nuclear Medicine teams including Nuclear…
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Our accreditation success
Northern Health has received formal notification from the Australian Council on Healthcare Standards (ACHS) that we have met all actions within the National Safety and Quality Health Service (NSQHS) Standards. Northern Health was acknowledged for the progress it has made since the last assessment and the commencement of its strategic journey towards a ‘High Reliability Organisation’. “This is a fantastic achievement and is a direct reflection on the quality of the care that our staff provide to our patients and our broader consumers every day. We can all be proud of this affirmation of the quality of services we provide…
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Breast Cancer Awareness Month: Get to know your lemons
The statistics are sobering – 1 in 7 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. So far this year, over 3,000 Australians passed away from breast cancer including 36 males and 3,102 females. That’s nine Australians a day dying from the disease. What they also make clear, as Cheryl Murray, Breast Care Nurse Consultant (BCN) points out is, “breast cancer doesn’t stop for a pandemic.” Says Cheryl, “I want to acknowledge it’s been a tough year and taking care of yourself has never been more important.” October, Australia’s Breast Cancer Awareness Month, provides an opportunity for us all…