The Outpatients Department at Northern Health has approximately 60 administration staff working across three campuses – Northern Hospital Epping, Broadmeadows Hospital and Craigieburn Centre.

The Patient Management team is responsible for performing numerous duties, including scheduling appointments, greeting and checking-in patients, collecting patient information, answering phone calls, supporting clinicians and nursing staff, and directing patients to the appropriate departments. All of these tasks are essential for ensuring patients have a seamless experience when visiting Northern Health.

Kelly Luca, Administration Manager, says the Patient Management team play an integral role in ensuring patients receive the best care they need.

“They are the first point of contact when patients attend an outpatient appointment, and play a vital role in setting the tone for the entire patient experience. Their contribution is significant, and their work is invaluable”.

“Outpatients experience approximately 300,000 attendances per year, including face-to-face and telehealth appointments. Work can often be challenging, as they are required to manage multiple tasks simultaneously. Staff need to have excellent communication skills, attention to detail, and a positive attitude. They also play an instrumental role in promoting the safety of patients, staff, and visitors,” she added.

The Contact Centre team answers approximately 3,000 calls per week relating to appointment changes, referrals and general enquiries. They must ensure the confidentiality of patient information and comply with the hospital’s policy and procedures.

Liz Fawcett, Clinic Lead and Project officer, says, “Our clerical workforce is invaluable in being able to deliver clinical Northern Health Outpatient Services. They are the friendly voice on the phone, the smiling face on the front desk and the kind words in an email, and often the first patient introduction to Northern Health. We are truly lucky to have such a dynamic and dedicated clerical workforce.”

Deanna Kernaghan, Administration Officer, who has recently joined the team, says, “I have really enjoyed working in Outpatients at Northern Health. The genuine care shown by staff towards patients and myself makes working here all that more meaningful and has allowed me to grow as an individual and employee.”

Sonia Tebano, Team Leader, Northern Hospital Epping Patient Management Team and Tori Caruso, Team Leader, Broadmeadows and Craigieburn Patient Management Team, provide their teams with leadership, guidance, and support. They also ensure the team is working collaboratively, effectively and efficiently towards achieving the department’s goals and objectives, while overseeing the day-to-day operations.

Sonia and Tori both agree the pandemic was a difficult time for all, however the Front of House (FOH) team within Northern Health Outpatient Services are embracing the return of patients face-to-face.

“FOH staff lead by example, ensuring a positive work environment, promoting teamwork and making sure patients receive the best customer service. We are proud to be part of such a caring team,” said Sonia.

Thank you to the Outpatients Patient Management team for all your hard work and dedication.

Pictured in featured image (L-R): Broadmeadows Hospital staff Vanessa Reali, Shontell Robertson, Louise Padovano, Zuleyha Kara, Tori Caruso.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you may know, the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) team has been training our EMR Super Users for the past two weeks, with over 300 staff trained. The time has now come when we begin the eight-week journey of EMR training.

From today until 1 September, we will be training more than 4,000 clinical and non-clinical staff working in inpatient and specialist clinics maternity settings. The EMR team is also working on eLearning training modules for areas that would have limited interactions with the EMR for more than 800 staff. These modules will be available by August. Remember, no training, no access.

We understand that learning about the basic functions of the EMR and new workflows within a day is not an easy task. On the myLearning platform, there are pre-learning videos for nursing, medical, allied health, and pharmacy staff to view before attending the classroom session.

“In the past two weeks when we have been training our super users, it was evident that learners come into the session feeling more confident in basic EMR functions if they have watched the pre-learning videos, and we are glad that staff found the videos useful,” says Linh Tran, EMR Trainer.

The team has been receiving positive feedback on EMR training, which:

• More than 87 per cent of learners agreed that they feel more confident applying the knowledge learned to their area of work when the EMR is live.
• 95 per cent of learners agreed the training delivered was relevant to their work.
• 85 per cent of learners agreed the training was well structured and easy to follow.

The EMR training team has been reviewing the evaluation and will continue to improve how training is delivered throughout the training period. We look forward to seeing many of you in the coming eight weeks.

After training, it is important to practice. We are running practice labs for staff who have completed their classroom training across Epping, Bundoora and Broadmeadows. Please click on the hyperlink to register your interest.

#WeAreNorthern

NAIDOC Week is an opportunity to honour and recognise the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The theme for this year is ‘For Our Elders’, which pays tribute to the Elders who have been mentors, teachers and role models, passing on their wisdom and cultural knowledge for generations.

Today, we meet Moira Rayner, Emergency Department Aboriginal Liaison Officer.

Q: What does a typical day look like as the Emergency Department Aboriginal Liaison Officer?

A: From my perspective, there is no such thing as a typical day. Every shift is different as patient journeys and supports are so diverse depending on the needs of each patient. Some patients just like to ‘yarn’ and have another Aboriginal person present, so they feel culturally safe and comfortable. Other patients might come in with quite complex needs, so I get to work with different program areas across the emergency department and in the hospital. It’s never dull.

Q: What do you enjoy most about your role?

A: The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients, my deadly team sister girls at Narrun Wilip-giin, and the champions that exist at Northern Health – you know who you are and there is quite a few. I have been very fortunate to have co-worked with many people who share the same passion about supporting the Aboriginal patient journey.

Q: This week is NAIDOC Week. What significance does this day have for you?

A: NAIDOC is a reflective time for me. It’s a reminder of all the struggles my people and Elders have experienced in the past and at the same time, a celebration of achievements within our communities. It’s an opportunity for all of the community to learn and experience what culture means to us and share in amazing cultural activities that run throughout the course of the week.

The best part is the ‘NAIDOC March’, where you can experience the whole Aboriginal community and allies marching down the street in the colours of our flag, with my children and grandchildren in tow – this is the highlight of the year for me.

 Q: Which Northern Health value (safe, kind, together) do you relate to best and why?

A: The Northern Health value that I can relate to is together – with my team, our executive, and other program areas that I have been fortunate to work alongside. Northern Health has a willingness to support Aboriginal health in ways I have not experienced in other hospitals.

Q: If you weren’t in your current role, what would you be doing?

A: Spending all my time with my grandchildren.

Q: What do you like to do in your spare time

A: Most people smile at this, but believe it or not, I play pennant in the sport of lawn bowls. I love it because it’s a game that you can never master! So, any spare time I have, I can be found at my local club practicing.

This week, we join the nation in celebrating NAIDOC Week – a time to honour and appreciate the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

The theme for this year is ‘For Our Elders’, which pays tribute to the Elders who have been our mentors, teachers, and role models, passing on their wisdom and cultural knowledge for generations.

Karen Bryant, Senior Aboriginal Liaison Officer, said, “NAIDOC Week for me is a time for all the mob to come together and celebrate our rich Aboriginal culture. We celebrate through song, dance, awards, acknowledgements, speeches, community events and marching for the rights of our people. Embracing our elders, sharing stories and attending as many events as possible.”

Our Narrun Wilip-giin, Aboriginal Support Unit, has displays at each site showcasing the stories of inspirational Elders. The displays also feature artwork by the children from Streeton Primary School in Yallambie, who painted their dreamtime stones to express their connections and meanings.

Sherrilyn Ballard, Consumer Participation Coordinator, and Toni Gabelish, Aboriginal Liaison Officer, visited the school and thanked the students and their teacher Jenny Donald. The children shared the symbols and stories behind their paintings and received Narrun Wilip-giin colouring books in return.

Teacher Jenny Donald, Learning Specialist at Streeton Primary School, said, “When you are welcomed into someone’s place you should acknowledge it and show respect for it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived in Australia for many thousands of years. They have a very strong connection to their place. They call this connection ‘country’ and they share it with everyone. Each day we acknowledge the land on which we live, ‘Yallambie’ which is derived from an Aboriginal word ‘nglambi’, meaning ‘to rest’ or ‘remain’. We value inclusivity and talk daily about how we value others and accept our differences.”

Narrun Wilip-giin Aboriginal Liaison Officers Stephanie Thompson and Toni Gabelish interviewed Elders Nicole Bloomfield and Noel King, and created a video gallery as part of an online NAIDOC display.

“Our elders have a lot of wisdom and lived experience and that needs to be shared and nurtured down the line in order for our young to grow up strong with identity,” Nicole said.

Narrun Wilip-giin will be visiting Elders from the Wandarra group, an Aboriginal community organisation in Broadmeadows, to deliver dilly bags to acknowledge their wisdom, stories and contributions to community.

Narrun Wilip-giin has also put together a NAIDOC Week staff quiz that will test your knowledge and reward you with exciting prizes. Click here to take the quiz.

We invite staff to attend a NAIDOC Grand Rounds tomorrow, Thursday 6 July at 8 am. The event will feature guest speakers Andrew Morrison, Director of Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and Karinda Taylor, Chief Executive Officer of First Peoples’ Health and Wellbeing. Click here to join the Grand Rounds.

Tya Fry, Occupational Therapist, who is hosting a basket weaving workshop for Aboriginal women in the Aboriginal Cultural Space said, “NAIDOC to me is a time to come together and celebrate our history, culture and country. It’s a time to continue the ways of learning through yarning.”

Jason Cirone, Chief Allied Health Officer, said, “This week is a unique time in the year where we recognise nationally the rich history and contribution of our First Nations people. We have so much to learn from Aboriginal Elders, we need to build and maintain genuine opportunities to facilitate authentic discussions.”

Please find a NAIDOC Week Library Guide here.

Featured image: Toni Gabelish, Aboriginal Liaison Officer and Sherrilyn Ballard, Consumer Participation Coordinator with Streeton Primary School children and teacher Jenny Donald, Learning Specialist.

Northern Health became a designated Mental Health Service on 1 July 2022, welcoming Northern Area Mental Health Services and North West Area Mental Health Services, as well as the staff of Merv Irvine Nursing Home and McLellan House.

A year later, we welcome the Broadmeadows Aged Persons Mental Health Unit (BAPMHU) and the new Specialist Older Adults Consultation Service (SOACS), completing the transition of services.

Belinda Scott, Executive Director Mental Health, said, “I am thrilled to lead an amazing team that is committed to improving outcomes for consumers experiencing mental ill health and their families and carers. Together, we are creating a more accessible and responsive mental health service.”

SOACS is a community service that provides assessment, treatment and rapid response for older adult consumers with a mental health diagnosis and frailty, who live in the northern community.

Sue Pike, Director, Service Development and Improvement, is excited about the launch of this service.

“We have designed a model of care that we believe will best meet the needs of the consumers in the north,” she said.

In August this year, the new mental health facility at Northern Hospital Epping will commence operations. It was designed with input from our clinicians, nurses, stakeholders, and people with lived experience of mental illness.

The Victorian Premier, Daniel Andrews, said, “This new facility will allow people in Melbourne’s growing northern suburbs to receive the support they need close to their homes, families and support network.”

The facility offers 30 acute inpatient mental health beds with a contemporary and modern design to support recovery. It features technologically enhanced sensory rooms and courtyards, and consumers also have access to a range of shared internal spaces for social, therapeutic and recreational activities.

“Our service and this building reflect a significant shift in thinking about the way people experiencing mental illness are treated,” Ms Scott said.

“Consumer-centred care has underpinned the development of all aspects of this new facility and our service.”

 

Pictured from left to right: Kale Frost, Senior Exercise Physiologist, Belinda Scott, Executive Director, Jake Gale A/Team Manager, Ambulance Victoria,  Shaveta Sood, Program Manager, Chris Collard, A/Senior Team Manager, Ambulance Victoria and Jason Ray, Senior Occupational Therapist.

 

 

#WeAreNorthern

Meet Katelin Blackwood, Transformation Lead, Outpatient Services.

Q: What is your coffee order?

A: Tea at home and hot chocolate if I am out.

Q: Tell us about your role at Northern Health?

A: I have been at Northern Health for 15 years and currently work in the Outpatients Department. I started as a Clinic Lead for the Gastroenterology Portfolio in 2018, and have now transitioned into a new role as a Transformation Lead, working to further enhance and develop our processes. Currently, I am working on streamlining our planned appointment process by aligning all of our systems terminology, as well as reviewing and implementing new templates for each specialty across Outpatients, to ensure they meet the current needs of the service.

Q: What motivates you to work hard?

A: The opportunity to learn something new, develop professionally and most importantly make an impact is what motivates me.

Q: What is your superpower?

A: Making my colleagues laugh and listening.

Q: Sweet or savoury?

A: Savoury.

Tracey Webster OAM, Director, Clinical Leadership, Effectiveness and Outcomes (CLEO), was recently awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2023 King’s Birthday Honours.

This prestigious honour is in recognition of Tracey’s many decades of service to nursing and community health.

“It’s still a shock because I thought they seriously got the wrong person. But it is also an honour,” Tracey said.

“I am not someone that would get something like this, I am just a nurse. When you look at the list of people who received this honour, they are all amazing and I am very ordinary.”

Tracey’s career began as a student nurse in the UK in 1985, where she went on to become a paediatric nurse working in hospitals and across the community. In 2004, Southern Health, now Monash Health, was advertising to UK nurses to come and work down under. Tracey decided to move half-way across the world to Australia, where she began working as a specialist paediatric nurse.

“Since I have been here in Australia, I’ve been a paediatric state-wide palliative care nurse, I’ve done case management, health promotion, supported care screening for cancer patients and I have also been the director of a community health service,” Tracey said.

“I also went out to Marysville for three months, helping to set up all the counselling and support services, which was quite confronting during the bushfires. It was a privilege – I learnt a lot about myself as a nurse. It was some of the most challenging nursing I have ever done, but also just a massive privilege to be on that journey.”

Tracey began working at Northern Health in 2019 as a quality coordinator. When COVID-19 struck in 2020, Tracey was instrumental in setting up Northern Health’s Telehealth service as the Telehealth Project Officer. Tracey was acknowledged for this work during Northern Health’s Quarterly Staff Recognition Awards in August 2021, where she won the Patient Experience Award. Tracey has also assisted Dr Katharine See in setting up the first lung cancer pathway.

Now, Tracey is the Director of CLEO team – a digital health team responsible for supporting clinicians with the redesign of models of care, including the developing and implementation of digital care pathways.

“I have loved my time here at Northern Health. I love the community we serve, I love the diversity of the staff,” she said.

“I love the fact that people come here to do the best that they can every day and Northern Health is probably one of the main places that I have felt that. Every single person genuinely comes here every day to do their best for the community we serve.”

“I have done some really great innovative work, and everything I have done, is as a team. I am now working with Dr Katharine See which is amazing and this is the most excited I have ever been working as a nurse.”

“We need to use technology as an enabler. We have to keep changing in nursing and give nurses time back with their patients by embracing the use of technology, using it to your advantage because there are going to be a lot of changes with the use of technology in patient care in the next 10 years.”

Tracey is hoping her achievements as a nurse, and being awarded this prestigious honour, encourages future and present nurses to continue pursuing their dream of nursing.

“Nursing is a fantastic career, especially with the breadth of jobs you can do as nurse. You can achieve anything with nursing,” she said.

“I am hoping nurses realise that they can achieve anything. It’s been rewarding to serve our community and making a difference in the lives of our patients and rewarding to support colleagued in giving them back time with patients.”

Here is what some of our staff had to say about Tracey’s achievement.

“Congratulations Tracey, amazing!” – Lisa Cox, Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer.

“Congratulations Tracey! So proud to be working with such an amazing inspirational leader in health. Your humble yet determined leadership will move mountains. Ordinary people can do extraordinary things.” – Elisha O’Dowd, Effectiveness and Outcomes Manager, CLEO.

“Congratulations Tracey Webster, absolutely amazing!” – Hayley Gray, Nurse Unit Manager, Victorian Virtual Emergency Department.

“Congratulations Tracey. Such a well-deserved honour in recognition of your many years of service to the community.” – Melanie Moore, Spiritual Care Leader, Counsellor, Supervisor.

On behalf of everyone at Northern Health, we give Tracey a big congratulations on this amazing achievement.