nslhd · 2017-10-31 · nslhd a close second at golden scalpel games our quest for a fourth win in...

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message from the Board Chair

NSLHD NEWS | ISSUE #4 | OCTOBER 20172

Dear colleagues

It was with great pleasure that I recently announced Deb Willcox had accepted the position of Chief Executive of Northern Sydney Local Health District.

Deb will already be known to many of you from her time as Interim Chief Executive earlier this year. Deb impressed everyone during her four months with the District with her strategic and pragmatic leadership, her strong interpersonal skills and her willingness to take on some long-standing challenges.

When the Board advertised for a new Chief Executive, it was looking for a transformative leader, with a collaborative style, who would unlock the vast resources and unrealized potential of the District. Deb is such a person, and more and we are delighted and excited she is returning.

The experience Deb brings to her new role includes Director of Operations Sydney Local Health District and General Manager of Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, as well as a distinguished career that spans clinical, corporate services, government departments, the research environment and chief of staff to a NSW Deputy Premier.

Deb has a deep commitment to the public health system and well-honed skills in leading and supporting staff and providing the highest quality patient care and will take up her position from Wednesday 22 November 2017.

I know Deb is keen to meet as many staff as possible at facilities across the District in the first few days and weeks and I am sure you will join me in giving her a warm welcome.

I would like to extend my and the Board’s sincere thanks to Graeme Loy who has been acting Chief Executive of the District since August. Graeme kindly stepped into the role during the Chief Executive recruitment process.

Graeme has been an exemplary acting Chief Executive, he has impressed everyone, and has made important progress on the Northern Beaches Hospital project and the implementation of the John Funder report on the Kolling Institute.

Graeme leaves behind an impressive legacy as well as many friends and admirers. We were very fortunate to have Graeme at the District and we wish him well on return to the Ministry.

Trevor Danos AM

Board Chair Northern Sydney Local Health District

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RNSH goes live with patient wifi RNSH has teamed up with Hills (communications and tech provider) to trial WiFi for patients, visitors and staff. To access the network, ensure WiFi is turned on within your smartphone, tablet, laptop or other WiFi enabled device. Then choose ‘‘NSW_Health_Guest_WiFi_RNSH’ and follow the prompts.

SCOUTING OUT THE HOSPITALIt was lovely having this curious, courteous and excited group of scouts at Hornsby Hospital.

During their recent visit the kids from the 1st Hornsby Heights Scout Group learned how a hospital operates, what a patient journey can look like

and the work of our different departments. Medical imaging, ICU, pathology and theatres were some of the highlights of the day.

“The scouts and cubs really enjoyed their visit, dressing up in scrubs and learning about

the many hands that create the big picture that is the hospital,” scout leader Madge said.

“It’s not just doctors and nurses.

“Thanks to all the staff for their time, as it was very much appreciated,” she said.

A ROARING THANK YOUWhat an awesome effort from the Lions Club of Epping-Eastwood Inc, the Australian Lions Foundation and the Lions NSW-ACT Save Sight and Public Health Care Foundation. They donated more than $49,000 to Ryde Hospital, which will go towards upgrading three anaesthetic machines in the operating theatres. From everyone at Ryde Hospital, thanks to everyone who made this possible.Picture: Matthew Noone (site operations manager at Ryde Hospital), Marilyn Latham (Epping Eastwood Lions vice president), Ann Paterson (EEL member membership chairman), Larry Dunne (EEL president), and Karen Jones (operating theatres nursing unit manager).

Picture: Nurse Allanah.Hazelgrove showing the scouts the ins and outs of

surgery

4 NSLHD NEWS | ISSUE #4 | OCTOBER 2017

We all know the importance of good hand hygiene, and we all know it can save our patients and us from serious and potentially life-threatening illness.

Yet too few of us pay sufficient attention to this most basic element of health, hygiene and patient care.

In order to lift our hand hygiene rates (at 76.3 per cent, they’re below the national benchmark of 80 per cent) RNSH has launched a new awareness campaign targeting all staff, patients, visitors and volunteers.

Many clinical staff have had the opportunity to view this video www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvRP3c5n3P8 at meetings over the last few weeks, and all staff are encouraged to check it out. It’s an entertaining and somewhat alarming peek into the

world of germs.

The video was made in Pennsylvania but its message is universal, and compelling.

The theme for the RNSH campaign – Get on Board with Hand Hygiene – was inspired by the parallels between cruise ships and hospitals. Both are mini-communities, where infections can spread quickly.

If you’ve been on a cruise, you’ll know the operators are rightly obsessed with hand hygiene – the message is constantly reinforced, and alcohol-based hand rubs are everywhere.

During our campaign, members of the hospital executive and other senior staff were wearing “Get on Board” T-shirts outside wards offering hand sanitiser to staff, patients and visitors as they passed.

Our fabulous volunteers were roaming other areas of the hospital offering alcohol-based hand rub to passersby.

To go with our ship theme, generous and jolly groups of staff were photographed in the ASB in August throwing streamers from balconies in true cruise-ship-style.The ship-shape crew of the good ship Royal North Shore made a fabulous and enthusiastic contribution to the launch of the new campaign.

The official launch on October 11 was highly successful, with ‘passengers’ donning commemorative T-shirts and partaking in glitterbug demonstrations.

May all who sail in her practice excellent hand hygiene and have a safe and healthy journey.

RNSH launches its new hand hygiene campaign

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disney artist lends his skills to create hand hygiene mascotRoyal North Shore’s Get on Board with Hand Hygiene campaign has a special ambassador designed to give everyone “paws” for thought.

Meet Rufus Washright – the cheeky, adorable campaign mascot who will take the lead in encouraging all staff to pay proper attention to handwashing and sanitising.

His image adorns special badges which will be given to staff who follow the five moments of hand

hygiene.

But Rufus is not just any old mascot. He’s the brainchild of a former Disney and Hannah Barbera director, animator and storyboard artist Warwick Gilbert (pictured). While Warwick came up with the image, his muso wife Julie Mostyn came up with the perfect name.

Warwick, a 2013 Archibald Prize finalist, ably fulfilled his brief of developing a positive and uplifting Disney-esque character

who would make us not just clean our hands, but smile too.

“I think he’s a mixture of certain aspects of different cartoon characters I’ve either animated for Disney or Hanna Barbera, or been indirectly influenced by, like Fred Flintstone or Huckleberry Hound,” Warwick said.


Prime Minister visits staff and patients at RNSHOn October 9 Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull met with staff and patients at RNSH during his visit to launch a new life-saving leukaemia drug.

From 1 December 2017, the cost of IMBRUVICA ® will be subsidised for the several thousand Australians living with Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) or Small Lymphocytic Lymphoma (SLL) in whom the disease has progressed despite treatment with standard therapies.

CLL is the most common form of leukaemia, with almost 1,500 Australians expected to be diagnosed this year alone.

Professor Stephen Mulligan, senior staff specialist haematologist at Sydney’s Royal North Shore Hospital, and one of the doctors involved in clinical trials of IMBRUVICA®, toured the Cancer Centre with Mr Turnbull and introduced him to patients who have already been helped by the drug.

“CLL circulates in the blood and may become resistant to standard therapies,” said Prof Mulligan.

“The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme listing of IMBRUVICA® provides many CLL patients with access to much needed treatment without financial burden. This is a milestone that we know will be welcomed by patients and their families,” he added.

Picture: The PM tours the Cancer Centre with Dr Stephen Mulligan (centre)


NSLHD a close second at Golden Scalpel GamesOur quest for a fourth win in a row at the Golden Scalpel Games fell just short last month, with NSLHD finishing second in the 2017 event.

The games, run by HETI, were taken out by Sydney West by a margin of two points.

NSLHD’s Northern Surgical Network team was represented

by Dr Colby Stevenson, Dr Timothy Do and Dr Vannessa Leung from RNSH as well as Dr Tessa Morgan from Ryde.Dr Siobhan Clayton from Lismore Hospital and Dr Sia Kim from Wyong Hospital completed the team.

The Northern Surgical Network includes all NSLHD hospitals plus

Gosford, Wyong and Lismore, who host training and surgical positions throughout the term.

The team got off to a great start at the trauma station, notching up a score of 46.5 - the highest of all LHDs.

In the end we were pipped at the post but it was so close - 255 points to Western Sydney’s 257.

STRONG ATTENDANCE AT STAFF FORUMSA series of staff forums are being held at Mona Vale and Manly hospitals over the next few months as preparations step up for the transition of staff to Northern Beaches Hospital.

Around 150 people attended recent forums where further details around the arrangements for moving to the new hospital were released. Additional information about the expression of interest process was also discussed. Manly and Mona Vale hospital staff will be given priority throughout the employment process.

NSLHD Director of Workforce and Culture Jane Street addressed the forums, saying the majority

of staff will be directly matched to a position at Northern Beaches Hospital.

“There will be broad opportunities for our eligible staff, as well as our casual and temporary employees,” she said

“There will also be a chance for staff to apply for more senior positions or different roles. I would encourage staff to secure their matched position first and then apply for the more senior role.

“The Workforce Information Centres will re-open next month providing a chance to discuss individual circumstances with representatives from the district

and Healthscope. Details about the redeployment process will also be provided,” she said.

A new factsheet and detailed information about the expression of interest process have been uploaded to the Northern Beaches Health Service Redevelopment page of the NSLHD intranet at: intranet.nslhd.health.nsw.gov.au/Redevelopment/NBHSredev

If you have further queries or would like to provide feedback on the expression of interest process, please contact the Northern Beaches Hospital staff information email at [email protected]


THE HEARTBREAKING AND LIFE-SAVING REALITY OF DONATING LIFEAt 55, Eddie Clunies-Ross has lived both realities of organ donation.

The father from Gordon said goodbye to his 31-year-old sister Catherine back in 1997 after she suffered an aneurysm, with his mother making the difficult decision to switch off her life support and donate her organs.

Fast forward 18 years, Mr Clunies-Ross became an organ recipient in an operation at Royal North Shore Hospital (RNSH). The kidney transplant changed his life.

Mr Clunies-Ross was first diagnosed with idiopathic membranous nephropathy in 1988.

There is no known cure for the

disease, which occurs when the small blood vessels in the kidney that filter wastes from the blood become inflamed and thickened.

As a result, proteins leak from the damaged blood vessels into the urine, which can cause kidney damage and ultimately lead to kidney failure.

A year later, Mr Clunies-Ross went into remission but in 2008, his kidney deteriorated.

“It was like coming down with the flu and having it for five years. Every day is a struggle to get out of bed,” he said.

“You just forget about what it feels like to be healthy and you only

realise how sick you’ve been when you get better.”

Without hesitation, his surviving sister Lynette offered her brother one of her kidneys, but unfortunately their blood types meant this was not possible.

In November 2015, Mr Clunies-Ross received the call that a donor kidney had become available.

He was one of 29 kidney transplants at RNSH that year, with 37 in 2016 and 20 in 2017 to date.

Several months after the transplant, he was feeling on top of the world. However, his sister Catherine was still in the back of his mind, as well as the difficult decision his mother made to donate her daughter’s organs.

“It was good we were able to respect her wishes. She would have wanted to be an organ donor and knowing what a difference it would make; she knew what it would mean for the recipients,” Mr Clunies-Ross said.

“We take comfort in the fact that my sister lives on in someone else and hopefully gave life to other people – it’s a beautiful thing.”

Specialist organ donation nurse at

Picture: Eddie Clunies-Ross with his sisters Catherine (middle) and Lynette (right)

Facts about organ donation:

• Around 1,400 people are on Australian transplant waiting lists at any one time, and a further 12,000 people are on dialysis

• Last year, a record 1,713 Australians received a transplant, thanks to the generosity of 503 deceased and 267 living organ donors and their families.

• 33 per cent of Australians are currently registered to give the gift of life but surveys reveal 67 per cent are prepared to donate - they just haven’t got around to signing up

• Registering to be an organ or tissue donor is quick and easy at donatelife.gov.au


RNSH Sandy Taylor is often one of the first points of contact for families like Mr Clunies-Ross’.

She said the process could be made easier if people made their intentions known to those close to them.

“To support families during the end of life care of their loved one is a position that I consider a privilege,” Ms Taylor said.

“Donation is a personal decision for everyone and it is important to take the time to consider your own wishes.

“For the families I support that already know their loved one’s decision, it provides comfort to families in knowing what their loved one wanted.”

Mr Clunies-Ross is now considering how he can thank the people who made the decision to donate their loved one’s kidney and save his life.

“I will write a letter but it will come from not just me, but my wife and daughter who are also so grateful for this gift,” he said.

“I know the letters my mother received, and I got to read, about the recipients from my sister’s organ donation - while they were terribly emotional to read, they were very comforting.”

Almost two years after a stranger’s ultimate act of generosity, Mr Clunies-Ross said everyone had noticed the difference in his good health.

“A lot of people I deal with as clients are actually ex-work colleagues who I’ve known for 20 years and have known me through the journey,” he said.

“Just this morning I met with an old friend and colleague who just said ‘you look fantastic, I can’t believe the difference’ – and I feel great.”

BE MEDICINE-WISEIn October we celebrated Medication Safety Week and our pharmacists spread the message about safer ways to manage your medication. Remember that one of the most important ways you can improve medication safety is to familiarise yourself with your medications.

“Keeping a medicines list is a useful way to keep all the information about your medicines together,” said Ryde pharmacy manager Jeanette Carey. “Ideally keep it up to date and carry it with you at all times. If you use the Medical ID app on your phone first responders can even access this information from the lock screen without needing your passcode.” In case you haven’t created your own medication list before, here is a link to the NPS MedicineWise website which has some helpful tools to get you started: http://bit.ly/2gKOd7Nu Picture: Pharmacists Hannah Bell, Julia Kim and Cecilia Wan demonstrating the Medical ID and NPS MedicineWise apps.

We know our staff do amazing things and we want to hear about it.

Share your news, achievements, events with NSLHD colleagues.

Contact Corporate Communications on 9463 1722 or email [email protected] to submit your news.

Publication is at the discretion of the editor and items may be edited for length, style and quality.

SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS

Kate Fraser with her son Lachlan


For Belrose resident Kate Fraser, the line has always been blurred between that of being a mother and a carer.

As part of Carer’s Week (October 15 to 21) the 50-year-old education support worker has chosen to share the story of her 21-year-old son Lachlan and their battle with the rare condition Smith-Magenis Syndrome (SMS).

Symptoms include mild to moderate intellectual disability, delayed speech and language skills, sleep disturbances, and behavioural problems.

“Living with a person with SMS can be very challenging, and bit by bit we were exhausted,” Ms Fraser said.

“We never slept, Lachlan’s increasing frustration involved him becoming aggressive and difficult to manage.

“We never went anywhere and no one came to visit – it was a lonely existence.”

An in-home support worker helped not just Lachlan, but the family as well, acting as the “rock”.

However, by the time he was 12, Lachlan’s behaviour had got to the point where the family could not cope.

He was accepted into Kingsdene, a boarding school for students with disabilities and used a respite bed on the weekend.

Lachlan thrived in care, and Ms Fraser’s role changed from one of physical carer to advocacy.

“Sometimes this role is harder,” she said.

“You are helping people understand how to look after your loved one – expecting them to take

KATE’S CALLING AS A CARER

as much care as you would and frequently being disappointed.”

It was during this period that Ms Fraser decided to return to the workforce, inspired by her experience with her son to begin working in education.

“I help support kids with a variety of additional support needs including autism and intellectual disability,” she said.

“Caring for Lachlan gave me skills to help others, he taught me patience, he taught me to look for communication behind behaviour and to strive to help others understand that and how best to help them.”

She also sought support from the Northern Sydney Local Health District’s Carer Support Service.

“They have helped me to navigate through the maze of government and non-government agencies to secure the help and support that Lachlan requires,” Ms Fraser said.

“It is a constant battle and part of a caring role that is often overlooked.”

NSLHD Carer Support Service manager Barbara Lewis said it was great to help people like Ms Fraser.

“Our aim is to help support wonderful people, like Kate, as they care for their loved one in what are often difficult circumstances,” Ms Lewis said.

“Being a carer is a huge commitment with a range of responsibilities and that can be overwhelming for a lot of carers whether they be mums, dads, grandparents, children, partners or friends.”

Ms Lewis hoped people used the week to acknowledge the work that around 120,000 careers in the district do.

“Carers Week is an ideal time for everyone to recognise and respect the important work that carers do every day of the year,” she said.

“We provide free guidance and support to carers in our region. Anyone who is a carer in our community and wants more information should visit our website nscarersupport.com.au or call 9462 9488.”


CARERS COUNTCarers Count was the theme for Carers Week this year. There are over 2.7 million carers in Australia providing 36 million hours of care and support every week to a family member or friend who has a disability, mental or chronic illness, or is frail. Without loving and dedicated carers the activities of daily living for these vulnerable people would be difficult or impossible. Unlike us in healthcare, they often work alone without team support, are usually not well prepared for the responsibility and have to learn on the job, and they deliver the care 24/7, 365 days a year.

Thanks to all the carers in the district - you do an amazing job. And remember our NSLHD Carer Support is there for you. www.nslhd.health.nsw.gov.au/services/carer

Nursing Team of the year crownedThe staff from South Wing 5 at Manly Hospital have every reason to smile after scooping the coveted NSLHD Nursing Team of the Year Award earlier this month.

Led by NUM Joanna Hayward, the 35 strong team celebrated with cake and the presentation of the trophy - but they didn’t have much of a chance to revel

in the win.

“The ward was very busy when Anthony Dombkins (director of nursing and midwifery at NSLHD) and Jenny Neilsen (nursing operations manager at NSLHD) arrived to present us with the award and the cake,” Ms Hayward said.

“In fact, we had a rapid response at the time.

“We respect and support each other, have awareness of each other’s strengths and weaknesses and always work collaboratively. We work really hard and always have some enjoyment along the way.”

The team’s hard work was recognised by Manly director of nursing Jacinta Kilpatrick who nominated them for the award.

nslhd · 2017-10-31 · nslhd a close second at golden scalpel games our quest for a fourth win in...

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