In mid-December, we hosted the 2019-20 Northern Health Annual Meeting and Open Access Board Meeting.

The Northern Health Board and Executive were virtually joined by members of our community, including consumers, primary care partners, volunteers and staff, to hear about Northern Health’s highlights and achievements over the past 12 months.

“2020 has been an unusual and challenging year for Northern Health – and indeed for our entire community,” said Jennifer Williams AM, Board Chair.

“The past 12 months have been filled with successes and challenges, from bushfires to a global pandemic. I am proud of the way that Northern Health has responded to each and every one of these challenges with courage, resilience and an unwavering commitment to the health and safety of their patients, colleagues and community.”

Siva Sivarajah, Chief Executive, reflected on some of the operational achievements over the past 12 months.

“Our Northern Hospital Emergency Department continues to treat more patients than any other emergency department in Victoria, including seeing the third highest number of presentations in Australia. In the past 12 months, we have received more than 105,000 attendances, including over 21,000 paediatrics and over 34,000 patient arrivals from Ambulance Victoria,” said Siva.

“With the use of telehealth, we have been able to provide our community with the services they need remotely, and provide them with access to their care team via phone or video conference, ensuring their health care needs and concerns are met, while reducing the added risk of multiple hospital presentations.”

He also echoed Jennifer’s words, acknowledging our staff for the extraordinary role they have played in the fight against COVID-19 in 2020.

“I want to thank each and every one of you for your enormous effort and commitment over the past nine months. I am proud of what we, as an organisation, have achieved to keep our community safe and healthy.”

“As we move into 2021 with renewed focus and determination, on behalf of the Northern Health Board and Executive, I take this opportunity to thank all of our staff, partners and of course, our volunteers, for their hard work and commitment,” Jennifer said.

Please view Northern Health’s 2019-20 Annual Report here.

You can view 2019-20 Northern Health In Review video below:

After an unprecedented year, last week marked the completion of intern education for 2020.

“I remember how lovely it was for the team to meet the 43 new interns. We could sense their excitement and trepidation as they were starting the beginning of the rest of their career. No one would have predicted what was about to happen. On Sunday, 3 January 2021, our interns will complete their internship. Most of them have chosen to stay at Northern Health to complete an HMO 2 year post in 2021,” she said.

The Medical Education team suddenly had to adapt to COVID-19 changes and find innovative ways to continue delivering the education.

“When the pandemic struck, we felt like one of our legs had been cut off. Our biggest challenge was how to balance service delivery, while also giving our interns a protected space to learn and mix with their peers, as well as for us in Medical Education to keep an eye on them. We kept intern education going, had to learn how to use Zoom, how to record and upload sessions on Vimeo, how to use tiny URLs to share the links and then transition to MS Teams,” she explained.

“My biggest challenge was to make sure the team felt supported as their responsibilities were double fold – balancing their own clinical/leadership duties, as well as looking after the junior doctors and what they needed during the crisis,” Susie added.

Dr Rachael Coutts, Associate Director, Medical Education, would often come to the team with new ideas on how to make education as user friendly as possible. Initially, the team offered both face to face and remote learning, but then had to move to remote learning only, and then back to a hybrid model.

“The pandemic has called on all of us to be flexible, adaptable and innovative. My whole team switched through multiple changes and embraced the benefits of online learning.  I have been extremely proud. The junior doctors – interns and HMOs, have been able to access both education sessions online, as well as recorded sessions. These have been really successful with over a thousand views on our videos, as well as reports of how helpful it is to be able to watch them in their own time,” she said.

“I am incredibly proud of the Northern Interns of 2020 – they adapted well with the challenges of COVID-19 and were quick to adopt the Zoom and Microsoft Teams interactive intern education sessions,” said Dr Carol Chong, Supervisor of Interns.

Dr Brandon Lui and Dr Nikki Petrakis, 2020 interns, said even though they missed the weekly free lunch, they were impressed by how smoothly the transition to e-learning was.

“Thanks to Northern Health’s rapid and adaptive COVID plan, our learning as doctors in training was able to continue undisturbed. It was tough not being able to see everyone in person, but knowing that our efforts contributed toward bringing our cases down to zero made it all the more sweeter when we were finally able to return to in person teaching at the end of the year,” they both agreed.

Chief Medical Officer, Ms Wanda Stelmach, also attended the final intern education session and personally thanked all the interns for their hard work this year, and for coping so well during the pandemic.

Northern Health’s Length of Service Awards ceremony was held virtually this morning, celebrating staff who have been with us from 10 – 45 years.

Siva Sivarajah, Chief Executive, opened the ceremony, saying our Service Awards look a little different, as have many of our other activities this year.

“What a year this has been – the year that the world faced its biggest public health challenge in 100 years. COVID-19 has changed the way we work, the way we interact and the way we provide care. And through the challenges and triumphs, it is more important now than ever before to thank our hard working and dedicated staff who are working on the front line each and every day, saving lives and keeping our community safe and healthy,” he said.

Northern Health has over 5,400 staff working across Northern Hospital, Broadmeadows Hospital, Bundoora Centre and Craigieburn Centre, with many providing dedicated service since the days of PANCH.

“From humble beginnings in 1958, it is great to see the way our health service continues to grow, with stage two of our Northern Hospital expansion to be completed in March next year, and planning for two community hospitals, plus additional mental health services. Today, we celebrate the staff who have worked for Northern Health for 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40 and even 45 years, an incredible achievement,” he said.

Three of the recipients, Gillian Walters, Swee Khor and Elizabeth Wills, have been with us the longest – and received awards for 40 and 45 years of service.

Gillian Walters has been working at Northern Health for 40 years. She commenced working in the Victorian Plastic Surgery Unit at PANCH on 3 March 1980, after completing her enrolled nurse training in 1979. In 1987, she commenced working in a split role as Enrolled Nurse and Clerical in Wound Clinic at PANCH, and, to this day, Gillian still works in Wound Clinic here at Epping, as well as providing clerical support to Specialist Clinics.

“Gillian provides great value to both roles, and has been a dedicated member of Specialist Clinics now for 40 years,” said Cathy Fletcher, her manager.

Swee Khor received the award for 45 years of service. Swee is a theatre nurse who also started in PANCH and after all this time, Northern Health has become a second home to her.

“I have enjoyed working with all my colleagues – they are all so professional in their work. I enjoy the dynamic of the theatre and every day is different,” she said.

“Congratulations on your 45th year of service at Northern Health. You have worked hard for this, and we truly appreciate your dedication,” said Ajimon Joy, her manager.

Elizabeth Wills also received the award for 45 years of service.

Her manager, Frances Brockhus, said, “Elizabeth has given 45 years of great service to Northern Health in many leadership roles. Her work has been to advocate tirelessly for the best outcome for every patient. She works with respect and consideration of how she can impact every staff member through every interaction. Elizabeth has built a career that has allowed her to combine both work and family commitments wholeheartedly, and remains a valued member of the access team through her work over many nights, over many years.”

Sue Lisle, Communications Supervisor, had this to say, “The virtual ceremony for the service awards was fantastic. The ceremony brought tears to our eyes. It was so pleasing to see many of our deserving staff receive their awards.”

To watch the full ceremony and hear from our Chief Executive, Executive and the long serving staff, please click here.

After the successful completion of the Fit-Test pilot project, where 847 priority health care workers were fit tested, Northern Health is now entering the second phase.

Fit testing is a process to verify if a selected brand, model or size of an P2/N95 mask adequately fits the wearer. Testing is carried out with all the different types of masks available, to identify the best fitting mask to ensure a consistent fit.

Michelle Wakelam, a certified Occupational Hygienist with many years’ experience in fit testing and respiratory protection, has recently been enrolled as our Respiratory Protection Program Coordinator (RPP Coordinator) and our respiratory scientists have received additional training to continue the testing program.

“We working  increase our capacity to be able to provide up to 21 tests a day,” says Michelle. “Since the pilot project , Northern Health has now fit tested an additional 70 staff members.”

Chief Executive Siva Sivarajah, was one of those fit tested by scientist Kristin Southwell recently.

Says Kristin, “Fit testing gives all Northern Health staff confidence on which N95 masks provides them the best protection. In addition to measuring how well a mask fits we also provide staff training on how to appropriately don masks and use their respiratory protective equipment effectively.”

Nicholas Romeo, Head Respiratory Scientist / Laboratory Manager – Department of Respiratory Medicine said, “we are very honoured to assist the organisation in ensuring the wellbeing and safety of our staff. The idea of having our respiratory scientists performing fit testing is innovative, but it’s a natural fit and utilises all our skill set. We look forward to phase 3 of the program and the opening of the dedicated fit testing laboratories where we expect to test 3500 staff members annually”.

Featured image shows Siva Sivarajah fit tested by Kristin Southwell 

“Every time we love, every time we give, it’s Christmas.” 

Christmas conjures up images of celebrations around the dinner table, presents under the Christmas tree and being surrounded by close friends and family.

The last, in particular, will be cause for added celebration for many of us after a year of lockdown and isolation. Yet there are others who may not get the opportunity to be with their loved ones and their families – and this includes patients in our Children’s Ward at Northern Hospital.

For the fourth year running now, ISS Facility Services are hoping to make a difference to these children, unfortunate enough to be spending Christmas away from their families, with their annual Christmas Appeal.

Over the past four years, over 500 children in the ward have been reminded that they are both cared for and not forgotten in this season of giving. Their joy has been shared by grateful parents, who have appreciated the thoughtfulness of the gifts their children received.

Says Snez Poposka, Facilities Service Manager ISS Facility Services, “What prompted me to organise this Christmas Appeal was the thought that, while I get to enjoy Christmas with my kids, there are these children without even the simple pleasure of a Christmas present.”

“It doesn’t have to be an expensive present. It’s the thought that matters more. It is a chance to bring a smile to a child,” she adds.

For more details on what presents you could give, please click here. The last date for sending in presents is 16 December.

Says Courtney Lowry, Nurse Unit Manager Children’s Ward, “Every year, I have been overwhelmed by the lovely acts of kindness from ISS that have brought smiles to the children and their families during what is a stressful time while they are in hospital. I would urge staff and colleagues to support this appeal.”

Featured picture shows Courtney Lowry, Nurse Unit Manager Childrens Ward with Snez Poposka, Facilities Service Manager ISS and the ISS team from last year’s appeal.

On behalf of the Board and Executive Team, thank you very much for your commitment and professionalism during 2020. This year has been completely different to anything we’ve seen before.

Staff had to change the way they work, whilst making sure patient care continued at the high standard expected of us. Many staff put their lives in danger to continue to provide this care.

We did not get everything right – but we adjusted quickly. We were learning all the way though the pandemic, and then the experience of the second wave taught us more.

In early July, when there was infection within the emergency department, one group was furloughed – while the other group still stood up, irrespective of the risk, and worked through until the first group came back.

Similarly, when our specialist units were furloughed, others picked up the load of the unit and kept the patient care going.

At the peak of COVID-19, Unit 1 staff from Broadmeadows Hospital came across and supported the Northern Hospital SCOVID (Suspected COVID) Ward 15.  Staff were prepared to leave their normal ward to work in a high risk area where the need was greatest.

Our Infectious Diseases Unit expanded and provided comprehensive care for our patients, as well as supporting our frontline clinical staff on how to manage the risk during this difficult period.

One of the early challenges was sourcing large quantities of the PPE we needed. Our Procurement and Supply team worked around the clock to source daily deliveries of the broad range of protective equipment available to clinicians.

In addition, early in the pandemic, we had very limited COVID-19 testing capacity. Our Northern Pathology Victoria service quickly adjusted with initiative after initiative to expand their testing capability to over 1,000 per day – with some of the fastest testing times in the state.

We were the first health service with wide-spread infection, with our emergency department and ward staff caring for many older patients with COVID-19. Our early experience and learnings have been adopted by other health services – and they have shared their experiences with us.

Our Residential-In-Reach team worked in multiple challenging private aged care settings, helping many residents avoid being transferred to hospital – taking them away from their familiar environments.

Northern Health was chosen to conduct the first fit testing pilot with 800 frontline staff. Now the pilot is complete, we are testing different types of masks so that the Government can broaden the supply of N95 masks from several sources, rather than relying on a narrow selection.

We had to reduce face-to-face specialist clinics and rapidly accelerated implementation of telehealth – a positive option for the majority of our outpatients into the future.

One of the cornerstones of our strategic priority of a Healthier Community – is Staying Well.  This is where much of our service expansion will be either home-based care or virtual, rather than people coming into hospital. During the peak of the COVID-19 period, we had to adjust the way the team were working to look after COVID-19 positive people in the community. Now, Staying Well resumes – aiming to enrol 1,000 of our chronically ill patients to the program in coming months.

Another challenge in health is to catch up on deferred care – where we had to place much of our elective surgery and outpatients on hold to create capacity to deal with COVID-19. Additional work with these patients will commence in February, whilst we maintain our vigilance for any flare-up of COVID-19 in Victoria – before vaccines are readily available.

Looking ahead to 2021, we have multiple infrastructure projects commencing or nearing completion. Stage 2 of the South East Block is progressing on target, with the new wards and theatres to be commissioned by around March.

The Victorian Government has announced additional mental health beds in our region, in response to the Mental Health Royal Commission’s Interim Report. Planning has commenced for 30 additional beds that will be built on the front car park at Epping, adjacent to the emergency department. Construction will commence in 2021 with completion in 2024.

Planning for new community hospitals at Craigieburn and in the City of Whittlesea has commenced. Construction of the Craigieburn Community Hospital will commence in 2021 on our Craigieburn Centre site. The Victorian Government has set aside funds in the recent budget to purchase land in the City of Whittlesea.

Our Renal Dialysis service has been functioning out of a portable for a very long time. We are converting the old Clinic E into a Renal Dialysis Unit by May. This will be a much better environment for the patients’ experience – and closer to critical care back-up if required.

Early in 2021, we will commence building our new 1,000 car multi-deck car park at Epping, to accommodate additional convenient on-site parking for staff.

We are currently building a new IT server room to be completed by May, with new modern equipment replacing outdated equipment currently located in portables. We are using this move as an opportunity to move 50% of our existing IT network to a cloud based environment. This new infrastructure will help support our EMR implementation, which will be another key focus of the organisation over the next three years.

I encourage as many staff as possible to take time off between now and Australia Day, before we get capacity back to normal in February.

Thank you all again for your work during 2020. I hope you enjoy the festive season taking a well-deserved break – and please stay safe.

Siva Sivarajah
Chief Executive

In October this year, and after a highly successful two-year trial with HealthLink, Northern Health’s Specialist Clinics have switched to HealthLink SmartForms as the standard platform for accepting GP referrals. Previously, referrals would be sent via fax, which often led to technical and readability issues, as some pages might arrive blank or completely black, smeared, only half-pages or illegible.

The new system is not only making the process more streamlined, but is also benefiting patients by having their referrals received correctly the first time, with all the clinical information in it.

“When we receive the referral, there’s no back and forth between GPs and us to get the final copy. It avoids that delay of not getting an appointment on time because the GP sent a fax and it didn’t have enough information in it,” said Christopher Daniel, Specialist Clinics Project Officer – eReferrals.

“The new system ensures our Specialist Clinics get an in-tact referral in one go, rather than multiple unreliable transmissions, additionally reducing the risk of us not receiving the referral or the delay in receiving the referral,” he added.

Since the launch, the team has seen an incredible improvement and a rise in electronic referrals, with great feedback from a number of local GPs.

“It’s going exceptionally well. Electronic referrals from GPs to Northern Health Specialist Clinics continues to grow, as more GPs adopt the technology. As at November 2020, Northern Health received 2,590 referrals (compared to 502 in July). The GPs find this process easier to use and, more importantly, they have confidence that when they transmit it electronically, we receive it. In the past, they might send a fax and wonder if we ever got it,” Christopher said.

“We’ve made great progress but we still have some way to go … a number of GPs are still sending faxes because they don’t know how to send a referral directly from their desktop to ours,” Christopher added.

Maria Tucker, Acting Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer, added: “GP adoption of electronic referrals is the key strategy towards mitigating the risk of patient harm through delayed access to clinical services.”

Northern Health is working with HealthLink to develop a number of electronic referral forms to improve the quality of referrals from GPs to meet the requirements of the DHHS Statewide Referral Criteria.

Consultation with six Specialist Clinics has been conducted in the development of these forms. Enhancements to all other electronic referral forms (for the other specialist clinics, community access and allied health services) will include options to update expired referrals, telehealth options and features to allow GPs to indicate patient disability/special needs. The new forms are expected to be released for use by GPs in early 2021.

Featured Image: Christopher Daniel and Maria Tucker

Northern Health consumers are making a difference and improving health care processes and outcomes by regularly participating on various committees, and being a patient voice during reviews.

Sophie Rodier, Manager, Patient Experience, explained that a Root Cause Analysis (RCAs) panel can be formed in response to an adverse event. This panel aims to identify why an incident occurred and what can be done to prevent it from happening again.

“It is important that staff and consumers are involved in this process. Five of these panels held in 2020 have had a consumer member from the Northern Health Consumer Network. We have also had family contribution into three of these reviews, which has led to a greater focus on patient experience during these reviews,” she said.

One of these consumers is Adamina Ivcovici, a consumer RCA panel member, who is finding her involvement to be a very valuable experience. She has completed the RCA training through Safer Care Victoria and was pleased to be able to put this learning into practice. She found it encouraging to see how rigorous the process was.

“It was an open environment and I felt comfortable to speak up. Everyone saw the events very differently but seemed happy to be quite critical when they needed to be or debate points rigorously. The Chair made sure that everyone had input and the chance to be heard. I think sometimes it’s easier as an outsider to see where a process might be lacking, which is where having consumers in any piece of improvement work can be so valuable. While others could bring their clinical expertise, I tried to look at the human elements of the incident we were reviewing,” she said.

During the RCA meetings, Adamina felt she was making a really tangible contribution and was really ‘part of the conversation’. She is also a member of Northern Health’s governance committee.

“I really enjoy being a member of the two committees I sit on, but they can be quite fast paced and I am trying to get my head around lots of content that’s unfamiliar to me. I feel valued and the Chairs always include me and are happy to receive my comments by email if I need time to think about things. Being involved in the RCA was great and a very different experience as it was a small group and everyone was problem-solving together from the very beginning of the process. It was an opportunity to work more closely with staff which was really appealing to me,” she said.

Kate Creed, Quality Manager and panel member, said, “Having a consumer voice on our review meant that we had an advocate for the consumer point of view. They helped to ensure that feedback or questions that the family had raised was discussed, guaranteeing this was included in the panel discussions.”

Northern Health will continue to improve this consumer engagement by looking at training and support for consumers in this area and how to close the loop with our consumers on RCA panels to report back to them about the investigation outcomes.

We are looking to recruit more consumers to work with us in improving the quality and safety of our services. If you know of any patients, carers of community members who would be interested in volunteering their time to support this work please contact consumerparticipation@nh.org.au or call 9495 3313.