We are heading into our first “Northern Celebrates” – a month of celebrations and awards throughout October that recognises what we have achieved, in caring for our patients, every day.

The month includes our Northern Health Annual Dinner, Staff Length of Service Awards, Research Week and our Annual Meeting and Open Board Meeting.  I hope that you become involved in as many of these activities as you can.

As a team, we have a lot to be proud of.  Our Annual Report has just been tabled in parliament, showing strong growth and performance improvement we can be proud of.

A quick glance at the care we’ve provided shows that we’ve had over 99,446 presentations at our Emergency Department making it the busiest in Victoria – (a rise of 7.9% compared to last year.)

We’ve also seen an 11.8% rise in hospital admissions, as we’ve had more than 93,913 admissions in the previous year.  Numbers keep on growing as we also look at elective surgical operations, reaching 10,095 – a rise of 17.15%.

Our teams are also witnessing a baby boom in the north, with our maternity care team assisting with the delivery an average 73 babies each week.

It’s not all about growth.  It’s about our continual quest to improve the patient experience, access to services – and the quality and safety of the care we provide.

Covering three of ten nations’ fastest growing suburbs: South Morang, Craigieburn and Epping means, we play a crucial role of providing “trusted care” to residents of Melbourne’s north.

Well done to you all.

Hope you all have a great week ahead.

Siva Sivarajah

Chief Executive

Congratulations to our Gastroenterology Consultant, Dr Anthony Mariani on the release of his follow up book, The Mediterranean Diet: Recipes from Mediterranean Kitchens.

In his book, Dr Mariani highlights the principles of a Mediterranean diet and its major elements, as well as providing practical ways for incorporating them into your lifestyle.

He discusses the benefits associated with adopting a traditional Mediterranean diet, including “simplicity of recipes, nutritional balance and great taste”.

More than 100 authentic recipes from various countries are included, many of them handed down through generations and sourced from families of Mediterranean background.

Dr Mariani’s first edition of The Mediterranean Diet: Food, Science and Health focuses on the history of the diet and its prevention benefits in various diseases, such as type 2 diabetes mellitus, heart disease, strokes, cognitive impairments, cancer and many inflammatory disorders.

He also examines evidence for employing a Mediterranean dietary pattern as a weapon in treatment and prevention of obesity in Western countries.

Dr Anthony Mariani is a Consultant Physician in General Medicine and Gastroenterology. He obtained his medical degree from the University of Melbourne and has trained in Gastroenterology and Hepatology in Miami Florida USA before returning to Melbourne.

If you would like to find out more information about Dr Mariani’s new book, you can check out his website here.

Can you think of a colleague who has gone above and beyond at Northern Health? Do you know of a team who has made a significant achievement in improving the patient experience?

It’s their time to shine – through your nominations to recognise their efforts.

Quarterly Staff Recognition Awards are an opportunity to reward teams and individuals in a wide range of areas, who have demonstrated commitment to high quality outcomes.

Northern Health’s Executive Director People and Culture, Michelle Fenwick, encourages everyone to nominate.

“The Awards are a way that you can highlight your colleagues’ achievements,” she said.

“Categories will cover exceptional patient experience, compassionate care, safety improvement, innovation, ‘above and beyond’, and potential to grow and develop at Northern Health. Both individuals and teams can be nominated for categories.”

Andrew Williamson, Executive Director Public Affairs and Foundation, says the awards ceremony will be held 16 October, during Northern Celebrates, with the help of our sponsors.

“We are delighted with the generous sponsorship support from BankVic and Maxxia,” he said.

Six Award Certificates and prizes of $250 each will be awarded each quarter, as Northern Health looks forward to celebrating amazing achievements of our staff and teams throughout the year.

Nominate your colleagues now as submissions close 30 September 2018!

Attaching health literacy to the National Health Survey makes Australia the first country in the world to fully and comprehensively get a baseline of our country’s health literacy, using a tool that was actually developed in Melbourne.

A keen supporter of Northern in our efforts to improve quality of care, Professor of Public Health, Richard Osborne from Deakin University, and the director of the World Health Organisation Collaborating Centre for Health Literacy, held a research seminar on health literacy in multicultural environments at NCHER recently.

Richard describes health literacy as a person’s ability to understand access, use and retrieve information, and organise themselves and their family to be able to get healthcare. That is something very close to health equity and quality because it goes two ways – people can have trouble understanding what to do and health professionals can also have trouble understanding what the needs are of the people they serve.

“Some patients are unable to read English, and they are given English written information, so they get in a tricky situation unless they have someone to help them understand. Also, they might be given medicine and they need to understand instructions on when to take them,” he said.

Health literacy also means developing a relationship with the healthcare professional. For a patient, it means whether they can actually discuss things with doctors, if they can find information on the web which is reliable and safe and do they trust the healthcare professionals.

“As this is a two-way street, we have to look from the other side too. From a health service perspective, health literacy means asking questions like – how good are we as a service to understand people’s needs? Do we talk to them in a way which they can understand? Do we understand their cultural issues and backgrounds?”

Richard adds that when someone leaves a hospital and professionals give them instructions to look after their baby in a certain way, as an organisation you need to make sure you’ve communicated correctly.

“There’s a technique called ‘teach back’ and that is what professionals can use to check if they have been understood,” he said.

You can say something like, “now, I’ve given you some information about what you need to do. Can you please explain to me the steps you need to take when you get home. If the patient can’t explain, then it’s the professional’s job to explain again or try explaining in a different format,” he advised.

‘Teach back’ is incredibly important and it’s key to good mutual understanding, as it genuinely supports better understanding.

“At the Collaboration Centre for Health Literacy, we offer various research tools, and those tools have been used in many parts of the world. In multicultural communities, it’s crucial to co-design communication materials to get cultural, as well linguistic, things right, so that when people go home they know what to do,” Richard said.

According to Richard’s research experience, understanding your community means knowing what community needs are and what perceptions they have.

“Try to understand what it feels like to arrive to Australia, and all the things you would need to know quickly, to be able to navigate thought the system and access all the health services available,” he added.

Make sure to check out amazing speakers during the Research Week at Northern Health from 8-12 October.

Northern Health’s Annual Dinner Staff Rate has just been extended!

On October 6, we are getting together for the biggest event at Northern – our Annual Dinner. We have extended the special staff rate, with tickets available at $99 per person or $990 for a table for 10.

And there’s more good news!

Our sponsors, Quest Epping have secured an accommodation special rate for everyone attending the dinner.

If your dancing shoes start feeling too heavy after a big night or you just don’t feel like driving late, discounted accommodation options are available at Quest.

All you have to do to get a discounted price is call in and mention that you are the guest at the Annual Dinner.

We can’t wait to see you there!

Where: Casa D’Abruzzo Club, Epping

When: October 6 2018, 6.30PM – 12AM

Entertainment: Comedian Michael Pope, with the show-stopping Baker Boys band

Meals: Three course dinner

Drinks: Wine, beer and soft drinks included

Price: Staff tickets are at the special price of $99 each or tables of 10 at $990

Click here to get your tickets.

 

 

 

 

Code Surge, developed in June this year, is Northern Health’s process for solving periods of peak demand in our Emergency Department.

Overcapacity in the emergency department can be a safety and quality issue and impacts both the patients waiting for a bed and those in the waiting room waiting to be seen. To address this, Northern Health developed a new code called Code Surge.

According to Debra Bourne, Divisional Director, this new initiative is unique to Northern Health.

“Having too many people in the ED impacts both patients and staff. It increases the waiting times, the length of stay and research has shown that it increases the clinical risk to the patients,” she said.

Northern identified that in situations where ED has overcapacity, an organisation wide response is required. The new Code Surge, just like Code Stroke or Code Blue is alerted throughout the organisation.

“Doctors get alerted through the paging system and we send SMS and e-mail notifications to other senior staff within the health service. From this, there are actions that each person and group needs to take,” Debra added.

Code Surge has been activated 10 times since its introduction and in the majority of occasions, the situation was resolved within 2 hours. This success is due to team work from all staff, both clinical and non-clinical.

In times of Code Surge, staff works extremely hard to ensure that our patients are cared for in the right place.

 

 

It’s Teddy Bear Hospital today at Northern, with our youngest community members and patients, together with Melbourne University medical students, checking up on their teddy bears.

The Teddy Bear Hospital is a unique educational program established and actively run by volunteer medical, nursing, physiotherapy, optometry and dentistry students of the University of Melbourne.

Northern Hospital hosts the Teddy Bear Hospital four times a year, with plan to expand next year with events at the Epping Plaza and the Aboriginal community in Thomastown.

Associate Professor Wei Qi Fan, Head of Neonatal Unit at Northern Hospital says that children often come stressed to hospital environments and the Teddy Bear Hospital relieves that stress by allowing kids to play with medical students and feel they can have fun in this environment.

“We help them relieve anxiety and stress and educate them in what to expect when they go and see a doctor. These events also help medical students, teaching them how to communicate with children of different ages,” she says.

Priya Croyal, a medical student from University of Melbourne says that this is a great way to get kids more comfortable around doctors and their equipment, as they can sometimes be frightening to kids.

“When kids are more familiar with health checks, in the form of a teddy bear, they’ll be less scared next time when they see a doctor,” she says.

Priya is currently in her third year of studies and is hoping to work at Northern Health soon.

“Northern is definitely going to be my number one choice to work at. I’m hoping they’ll have me next year,” she said.

 

 

Northern Celebrates, a month dedicated to Northern Health’s events, awards and celebrations kicks off with our Annual Dinner on October 6.

It’s time to get your colleagues, staff and family together, put on your dancing shoes and celebrate collective achievements of Northern Health.

During last year’s annual dinner, over $100,000 was raised for our Emergency Accommodation Relief Appeal, helping our Foundaton team build a home for families travelling long distances with loved ones receiving care in our Intensive Care Unit.

This year, the funds raised would be going to the Children’s Ward for the purchase of medical equipment and to improve the ward environment for children and their families.

Yvonne Amos, Northern Health Foundation Director says that Northern Health Annual Dinner, now in its 20th year, has raised over $2M to support the purchase of medical equipment across Northern Health, making a difference to the quality of care deliver within our community.

“Please join us this year to help in raising the vital funds needed for our Children’s Ward. Every ticket purchased, every dollar donated will help us reach our target of $120,000,” she said.

So grab your tickets and practise your best moves!

Where: Casa D’Abruzzo Club, Epping

When: October 6 2018, 6.30PM – 12AM

Entertainment: Comedian Michael Pope, with the show-stopping Baker Boys band

Meals: Three course dinner

Drinks: Wine, beer and soft drinks included

Price: Staff tickets are at the special price of $99 each or tables of 10 at $990

Click here to get your tickets and see you at the Annual Dinner 2018!