Yesterday, Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation dedicated the Northern Hospital Paediatric Emergency High Acuity Unit in memory of Constable Neil Clinch, who at 22 years of age died in the line of duty.

For many years now the work of the Blue Ribbon Foundation has been a collaboration between our community’s protectors and its healers, and Northern Health is honoured to have the first Victoria Police Blue Ribbon dedication in Melbourne’s northern suburbs.

In honour of Constable Neil Clinch, Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation donated $150,000 to the Northern Health Foundation, to support the Paediatric Emergency High Acuity Unit.

The police memorial dedication and awards ceremony, held at Northern Hospital Epping, welcomed representatives from the Blue Ribbon Foundation, members of Victoria Police, local community representatives, Northern Health staff and Clinch family members.

Commemorative plaques in Neil’s honour were revealed during the ceremony and the Clinch family had the opportunity to visit the Pediatric Emergency Department, with the High Acuity Unit now named in memory of Constable Neil Clinch.

“This project will greatly benefit the children who require resuscitation with a dedicated space within the paediatric emergency department” said Northern Health Board and Foundation Board Director Peter McWilliam.

“We thank Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation and the Northern Metro Branch for their generous donation and for choosing Northern Health to honour the memory of Constable Neil Francis Clinch.”

The project includes state of the art monitoring capability to four cubicles, allowing clinicians to manage high acuity presentations, high flow oxygen equipment to support management of asthma and bronchitis patients who require respiratory support, and neonatal resuscitaire for the monitoring and management of unwell newborns and infants.

The Victoria Police Blue Ribbon Foundation preserves the memory of members of Victoria Police who have died in the line of duty through the support of community projects within Victoria.

For many years now, the work of the Blue Ribbon Foundation has been a collaboration between our community’s protectors and its healers.

The Dietetics department admitted their first patient for a routine Gastrostomy (PEG) tube change last week. PEG tubes are required in patients who are unable to meet their nutritional needs via eating, and are often managed via the Northern Health Home Enteral Nutrition (HEN) service.

In 2015, Northern Health was one of five sites that received funding from DHHS to develop a credentialing program for dietitians to undertake advanced scope of practice in gastrostomy tube management. In 2016, the first Northern Health Advanced Practicing Gastrostomy Dietitian was credentialed.

At this time, an outpatient PEG clinic was set up in partnership with the Gastroenterology Department whereby routine balloon gastrostomy tube replacements were completed for HEN patients by the credentialed dietitian.

Two years post implementation of the PEG clinic, there are now two credentialed Advanced Practice Gastrostomy Dietitians; more than 80 PEG replacements have occurred; 80% of which were independently managed by the credentialed Dietitian, without the need for Gastroenterology or radiology input.

Tracey Martin, Advanced Practice Dietitian at Northern Hospital says that Advanced Practice Gastrostomy Dietitians have assisted in streamlining the care of patients with PEG tubes in the community. They also facilitate earlier discharge for inpatients requiring PEG tube replacements, allowing patients to bypass ED or radiology, freeing up these services for more urgent cases and reducing the demand on medical staff.

“From 6 December, PEG replacements and removals are conducted as an admitted procedure in the Allied Health (Foot) Procedure Unit single room; a space that is more suitably set-up for this procedure,” she said.

This will also allow for patients who are not managed by the HEN program to be admitted for routine PEG replacements, rather than their current pathway of coming into ED or radiology.

Lee-Anne is a patient with Cerebral Palsy who has had a PEG tube since 2012. Her mother, Lorraine, said that it’s much easier now for them to come directly to Allied Health.

“We now spend only half an hour, in a more relaxing environment. These procedures used to take half a day for us and we had to go through different departments. The communication with staff is a lot better,” she said.

The Advanced Practice Gastrostomy Dietitians are also working closely with the Gastroenterology Department, ward nursing staff and Emergency Department, to further improve the management of PEG tubes across the hospital.

Northern Hospital Epping hosted their Second Annual Venous Workshop, welcoming UK Vascular Surgeon, Dr Stephen Black, who came to supervise for the first time in Australia,  a complex endovascular recanalisation of inferior vena cava.

The workshop included procedures on two patients, with the first patient from Victoria and the second from Queensland, who came with his surgeon Dr Daniel Hagley to Northern Health specifically for this procedure.

Dr Iman Bayat, Head of our Vascular Surgery Unit, explained that these conditions arise when, despite taking blood thinning medication, veins never fully open and remain  partially and in segments, fully blocked. The patients suffered from a bursting sensation in their legs, especially when walking, as the partially blocked veins were not able to cope with the blood reaching the leg, therefore expanding and causing pain.

In the past, many patients like this were told that not much can be done.

“Today, we are opening these veins by using a fine wire to cross the blocked segments, then balloon the occlusions and finally keep these open using stents,” he said.

The first procedure was performed on a 40-year-old Victorian patient, a previously healthy stone mason, who after deep vein thrombosis developed pain in the leg and had his walking limited to only 50 metres.

“Today, we were able to successfully recanalise and open a completely blocked inferior vena cava and blocked right common iliac vein and very narrow and diseased left common external iliac and common femoral vein,” Dr Bayat said.

“We were able to come from both sides and the neck, working all together – Dr Daniel Hagley, Dr David Goh and myself, with the supervision of Dr Stephen Black. We were able to open this vascularly through three small punctures in the thighs and neck,” he added.

The dedicated team performed this complex procedure in only three hours, compared to the expected 4.5 hours.

Our guest, Dr Stephen Black, came to Northern Health to help with treating complex cases, and to try and put together an opportunity for their treatment.

“Dr Bayat has done a great job today and we are all hoping the patient will have a great result. Even though I am here just for a day, I can see the hospital is growing and everybody is putting in a lot of effort in building it up. Hopefully that success comes along with better outcomes for the patients in this area,” he said.

The Workshop is part of Northern Hospital’s vision of being a centre of excellence for complex venous disorders, and offering a complete spectrum of venous care.

The centre, unique in Victoria, offers a multidisciplinary approach to venous disease – closely collaborating with vascular surgery, haematology, radiology and wound care specialists. It offers both open and endovenous treatment for varicose veins and a weekly joint vascular and chronic wound clinic looking at venous ulcers. It also offers novel technology such as intravascular ultrasound.

The vascular surgery team believe this multifaceted and wide-reaching approach to venous disease will significantly improve health outcomes, whilst sharing their experience with other Victorian hospitals and learning from renowned world experts.

“I believe in innovation and that the way you get innovation is you fund research and you learn the basic facts”
– Bill Gates

This year, sixteen applications for funding were received for Round 21 of the Small Research Grants Program. With support from the Northern Health Foundation, five projects were chosen, receiving a total funding of $22,161.62.

Peter Brooks, Head of Research at Northern Health, explains the significance of the funding program.

“The Small Grants Scheme at Northern Health is very important as it can allow someone to take that idea they have had, get some preliminary data and then develop the project into a submission for larger amounts of funding,” he says.

The recipients are:

Name: Mr Russell Hodgson

Role: Specialist HPB & General Surgeon

Title: Laparoscopic Intra-Abdominal Pressure Study: A double blinded randomised controlled trial

Award: $5,000.00

Name: Penny Ramsden

Role: Clinical School Coordinator – Nursing

Title: Evaluation of RUSON model of assisted patient care

Award: $3,000.00

Name: Marinda Brooks

Role: Senior Speech Pathologist

Title: Improving patient swallowing outcomes by credentialing of staff in Fibreoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES)

Award: $4,862.62

Name: Edmund Leahy

Role: Senior Clinician Physiotherapist

Title: Effect of metabolic syndrome on clinical and health service outcomes for people with osteoarthritis

Award: $4,999.00

Name: Mr Neil Strugnell

Role: Associate Director of General Surgery; Consultant General Surgeon

Title: Negative Pressure Wound Therapy for Emergency Laparotomy – A Randomised Controlled Trial

Award: $4,300.00

The applications were assessed on the scientific merit of the proposal, as well as the potential to increase the contribution of Northern Health’s research to the wider community. They were also assessed on their ability to build research capacity and expertise, provide new and emerging researchers with opportunities to initiate their research, and the appropriateness of the proposed expenditure.

“As always, it is difficult to decide who will be successful, particularly with the highly competitive field we had this year, so congratulations to the projects that were funded – and those who were not successful – keep developing your project and hopefully we can fund it next time,” Peter says.

To learn more about each of the awarded research projects, click here.

With the temperature expected to rise to 36 degrees today , here’s a reminder on how to stay well in extreme heat.

Stay hydrated:

• Keep those fluids up! Even if you don’t feel thirsty, have a drink bottle with you at all times to ensure you’re drinking plenty of water.

Stay cool:

• Seek out air-conditioned buildings, keep blinds closed, take cool showers, and wear loose clothing made from natural, breathable fibres like cotton.

Stay out of hot cars:

• Hot cars can kill! Never leave children, older people and pets in cars. Within minutes, the temperature inside a parked car can double.

Stay smart:

• Avoid being outside during the hottest part of the day. If you do have to go outside, remember to slip, slop, slap on the sunscreen and seek shade.
• Avoid exercising in the heat and activities like renovating and gardening.
• Make sure food that needs refrigeration is properly stored.
• Eat smaller meals more often and cold meals such as salads.
• Watch or listen to news reports to find out more information during extreme heat.

Stay connected:

• Look out for each other – patients, staff, volunteers and community members.
• Check in on those most at risk in the heat – older people, pets and our patients.

Northern Health Acting Director of Emergency Department, Dr Dean Pritchard, says “Conditions as simple as sunburn, and as serious as heat stroke, can be prevented by avoiding exposure and exertion during the hottest times of day.”

“Care must be taken by staff and patients to avoid prolonged exposure to heat during summer, particularly when combined with strenuous activity. We must also be mindful of our elderly family and neighbours, who may not have access to air-conditioning,” he adds.

 

For more information on why heatwaves are ‘nature’s silent killer’, please click here 

Yesterday, we welcomed Nine News to Northern Hospital Epping to interview Associate Professor Uwais Mohamed, about a new heart procedure helping patients who experience problems with their pacemakers.

Pacemakers can improve life for many people with heart problems, but in some cases, can trigger adverse effects and heart failure symptoms.

77-year old Northern Health patient, Colin Berryman, could barely manage to take the rubbish out.

After having a pacemaker for several years and still experiencing heart problems, Colin was losing hope.

“It was like the end of the world,” he says.

“You get crushing chest pain – it’s as if you’ve just come in from a marathon,” he adds.

The new technique, known as ‘His Bundle Pacing’, has only been performed on a handful of patients across Australia – earlier this year, Colin was one of them.

Traditionally, pacemaker wires are inserted into the bottom right side of the heart.

The new technique performed by Dr Mohamed involves attaching the pacemaker wire to a more central area of the heart than traditional pacing, which stimulates both sides at the same time, enabling a more natural and synchronised heartbeat.

Dr Mohamed says the new procedure can be performed on patients requiring a pacemaker for the first time, or those who have developed complications from an existing device.

Since undergoing the revolutionary procedure at Northern Hospital, Colin has seen significant, immediate improvement.

“I could hardly walk from the house to the end of the driveway with the wheelie bin, now I can mix bags of concrete and lay bricks,” he says.

“It’s just incredible.”

Click here to watch the exclusive story with Nine News 

In September this year, 3-year old Loyal quickly turned from a carefree kid at home in the morning, to a child fighting for life in the afternoon.

Seeing him rushed through our Emergency Department unresponsive and blue, his parents thought they might lose him.

After receiving the best possible care at Northern Hospital, he pulled through the night. However, the life-threatening asthma is still there, and the walls of our Children’s Ward have become very familiar to him.

Loyal is one of 22,000 children who present to our Paediatric Emergency Department every year, many of them sharing a similar, life-threatening story.

That is why we know how traumatic it is for parents to see the lives of their little ones on the line. We also know how scared and confused children like Loyal feel when they are rushed through our doors, as our staff in the Paediatric Emergency Department see more than 60 children every day.

This Christmas, we encourage you to give generously to the Northern Health Foundation and help the growing number of children in Melbourne’s north receive the best possible care close to home.

By giving just $25 today, we call all help provide equipment and resources needed to support families and continue holding their hand, bringing comfort in deep distress.

2018 Northern Health Quality Account

This week we’ve published the 2018 Northern Health Quality Account on our website.

In the report, you can read about our absolute commitment to patient safety and improving the patient experience, and our quality and safety achievements over the last 12 months. We know this would not be possible without dedication from our staff, cooperation from our patients and their families, as well as involvement with our community members.

Providing Trusted Care to all of our patients is our commitment, and with the ongoing High Reliability transformation, we are making significant improvements in clinical practice and the way we provide care over the next two years.

In the report, we share the many successful staff and patient stories, showing what we do every day and how we engage with our community, encouraging deeper mutual understanding and support.

I encourage you to read the Quality Account on our website.

Jodie Ashworth leaving Northern Health

Jodie Ashworth, our Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, leaves Northern Health at the end of next week. She and her family will be moving to the warmth of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland.

On your behalf, I would like to thank Jodie for her drive and commitment since she joined Northern Health in January 2014. She is a passionate advocate for patient care and excellent patient outcomes, and takes pride in leading our nursing and midwifery staff.

Jodie, we wish you well in the next stage of your life and career in Queensland. You will be missed.

Jodie is a guest columnist this week discussing the Patient Experience – the Trusted Care element she has been leading.

Staff Christmas BBQ Lunches

As the year draws to a close, I am pleased to invite you to Staff Christmas BBQ Lunches across our sites: Broadmeadows Hospital at 1pm Monday, 17 December, Northern Hospital Epping at 1pm Tuesday, 18 December, Bundoora at 1pm Wednesday, 19 December, and Craigieburn at 12.30pm Wednesday, 19 December.

I hope you can attend.

Christmas and New Year Celebrations

I hope that you and your families have an enjoyable festive season.

Those participating in workplace Christmas functions need to remember that these are an extension of our workplace – so all Code of Conduct and social media policies apply.  Further information can be found within the Prompt OHS – Employee Health & Wellbeing procedure. 

Keep safe and enjoy this time of the year – refreshed and ready for a great year ahead in 2019.

 

Chief Executive

Siva Sivarajah