Honours for clinicsee page 4

In the mediasee page 6

HealthMattersSydney – it’s your local health district

Issue 18OCT 2012

Happy Birthday, RPA

A barbecue breakfast with the NSW Governor and the main foyer transformed into an historical walk; sandstone walls adorned with banners two storeys high and staff enjoying a sizzling lunch on the grass at Gloucester House followed by twilight cocktails in the courtyard with a slew of VIPS.

This is how RPA celebrated 130 years of excellence this month. More photos, story inside.

2 HealthMatters Sydney – it’s your local health district

Message from the Chief Executive

Dr Teresa Anderson

Sydney Local Health District Chief Executive

The Hon. Ron Phillips

Sydney Local Health District Board Chairman

Message from the Chair, District Board

It has been a busy and exciting month in Sydney Local Health District with hundreds of staff participating in RPA’s 130th birthday celebrations.

Barbecues, historical exhibitions, a clinical symposium featuring the eminent Sir Gustav Nossal and a cocktail party attended by the NSW Governor Professor Marie Bashir, the NSW Minister for Health and Minister for Medical Research, Jillian Skinner, and the Director-General Dr Mary Foley were the highlights of the week-long festivities.

It is clear that RPA still holds a special place in Sydney’s history books and in the hearts of many former and current clinicians and staff who have devoted their lives to cutting edge research and caring for all who enter her sandstone arches seeking help.

It was also heart-warming to see more than 300 people pack the Kerry Packer auditorium for Sydney Local Health District’s first budget presentation last month.

The attendance confirms what we all already know: that staff in this district care passionately about their hospitals and health services, and want to play a key role in their future.

I am proud that Sydney Local Health District has historically led change and innovation. We are always finding better ways of caring for our patients, and more efficient ways of doing business.

With the introduction of activity based funding, we now have greater opportunities to move to another level of

clinical performance through a flexible, informative and open health system.

I look forward to a system where we can more easily compare cost, results and outcomes, manage and measure healthcare we deliver in all its forms and create an explicit relationship between funds and services.

Many of you may have noticed new signs being erected across the RPA campus. The first of these have already been erected at the main entrance, outside KGV and near RPA Women and Babies. This project will be rolled out across all hospitals and facilities in the District in coming months and is part of our commitment to make our facilities more accessible and user-friendly.

There has been a delay in the rollout of new uniforms across the state with ordering now expected to begin on Monday, February 18. The new NSW Health supplier, ADA, will distribute a limited range of uniforms between 12 November and 31 May but these items will be from the current range and staff are advised to order only if needed urgently or if a new starter.

Staff information sessions will be held across the District closer to the rollout date.

Finally, congratulations to the Fracture Liaison Service at Concord Hospital for its nomination as a finalist in this year’s Premier’s Awards. Winners will be announced on November 12.

Last month’s budget presentation heralded a new era for health reform in NSW, and for Sydney Local Health District.

During my time in public life in NSW, no Local District, area health service, or public hospital has ever before publicly opened, unpacked and explained its budget. It’s a big and welcome step.

The introduction of activity based funding means change is inevitable. But that change will be our biggest opportunity. Here, at Sydney Local Health District, we are committed to opening our health system for inspection; achieving better clinical outcomes and sustaining our excellence across all areas.

The presentation of the budget played, and will continue to play, a vital role in that vision.

Community participation was honoured this month with the launch of Sydney Local Health District’s Consumer and Community Participation Framework.

This completes an important goal for the District’s Strategic Plan by providing guidance to ensure meaningful and effective engagement with our communities. In this

framework, the District clearly states its commitment to consumer and community participation which reflects the diversity of our population.

Consumer and Community Participation groups are already being set up across the District with advisory groups already established at Concord, Canterbury, Balmain and RPA.

The launch of the framework, which will help the District forge stronger links with consumers, councils, NGOs, Aboriginal communities, CALD communities, the disability sector and marginalised groups, also provides a timely opportunity to thank our community groups for their invaluable input into helping the District deliver excellence in healthcare for all.

In closing, I extend an invitation to staff, patients and consumer groups to attend this year’s Annual General Meeting at the Centre for Education and Workforce Development at Rozelle on December 6. It is an opportunity to celebrate the people of the District and play a role in its exciting future.

3HealthMatters

Marking a milestone

From the day the doors opened and 146 patients were admitted through its sandstone arches, RPA has provided world class care without fear or favour.

The wounded, the weary, and the weak have all been welcomed, making their way down Missenden Road for 130 years.

That tradition of equality and excellence was celebrated this month with the hospital hosting a clinical symposium, staff barbecues and a cocktail party to mark the milestone.

On an average day, more than 1600 patients receive care at RPA. About 200 are treated in the emergency department, almost 60 ambulances enter the front gates, 70 surgical operations are performed, and 19 babies arrive in the world.

RPA was the first and largest teaching hospital in Sydney and has continued to lead the way with an impressive list of firsts.

It hosted the first open heart surgery in NSW; was the first hospital in NSW to establish a liver transplant unit; opened Australia’s first

perinatal medicine unit and operated the first foetal heart monitor. RPA also performed the first aortic valve replacement and was the home of Australia’s first triage nurses.

From the porters and cleaners to the doctors, nurses and allied health workers, these faces of RPA are the reason this hospital is known around the world as a centre of health excellence.

On RPA’s 130th birthday we say thank you to all staff, visitors and patients past and present.

Cake cutting ...Sydney Local Health District’s chief executive Dr Teresa Anderson and the Director General Dr Mary Foley celebrate with staff and patients.

Sydney Local Health District became the first in the state to officially present its budget to staff, the community and the media last month, a significant step forward in health reform in NSW.

More than 300 people packed the Kerry Packer Education Centre auditorium to hear the budget presentation, described by the chairman of the board, the Hon Ron Phillips, as the “most obvious example of how health in NSW is trying to open up and face scrutiny and judgement”.

“During my time in public life in NSW, no Local District, area health service, or public hospital has ever publicly opened, unpacked and explained its budget before,” he said.

“Nor has the significance of funding on clinical issues been explained in the detail or closeness that this morning will bring. It’s a big and welcome step.”

The chief executive of Sydney Local Health District, Dr Teresa Anderson, told the audience the district, with a budget of $1.378 billion, had come in on target, despite growing pressures on resources and staff.

“Every day in Sydney Local Health District we treat more than 5200 outpatients at our five hospitals, receive more than 110 ambulances, perform 140 operations, deliver 19 babies and spend more than $3.78 million on health care, including $2.3 million on our 10,000 employees and $1.15 million on goods and services,” she said.

“We are big and we are busy but we are still recognised as the leading District in NSW for surgical performance; we’ve improved on KPI performance; we continue to provide world-class research; and we are leaders in health information technology and support for staff training and development because we believe in healthcare excellence for all.

“We know clinicians drive our system and drive change. But until now budgets haven’t allowed clinicians to look into funding and have a say in managing hospitals. Today they can.”

The budget presentation can be viewed at http://www.slhd.nsw.gov.au/media/pdf/SLHD_Budget_2012.pdf

District leads the way with budget forum

4 HealthMatters Sydney – it’s your local health district

Research into bone fractures in people suffering from osteoporosis has been named as a finalist in the 2012 Premier’s Awards.

Concord a finalist in 2012 Premier’s Awards

ReseaRch M A T T E R S

The Fracture Liaison Service has been nominated in the Delivering Quality Customer Service category as a cost-effective and innovative model of care which could be used across the state.

In establishing the service, Professor Markus Seibel and his team at the Department of Endocrinology demonstrated that patients who had been investigated and treated by a specialised post-fracture service had a greatly reduced risk of having another fracture compared with patients who were not managed by Concord Hospital’s Fracture Liaison Service.

“Patients who suffer a hip, leg or arm fracture certainly get their fracture fixed with screws and pins, but nobody asks the question why did they have a fracture following such minimal impact in the first place,” Professor Seibel said.

“In other words, although there are medications available which can significantly reduce the risk of new fractures and access to these medications through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme has improved over the years, the majority of patients with osteoporotic fractures are being neither investigated nor treated for their under lying condition.”

Osteoporosis is a condition where the bones become fragile and brittle. Even a minor bump or fall can cause a serious fracture.

Fractures resulting from osteoporosis can cause lasting pain, deformity, disability, loss of independence and can lead to premature death in older Australians. One in five people who suffer a hip fracture die within six to 12 months of sustaining the injury.

As many as four in five people living with osteoporosis do not know that they have the disease.

The study also showed that the time of the second fracture was much delayed in those patients attending the Fracture Clinic: 26 months compared to 16 months in the other group.

The medical director of Osteoporosis Australia, Professor Peter Ebeling, is strong supporter of the service.

“The results of this study conducted at Concord Hospital show unequivocally the major impact that a targeted and coordinated approach can have on reducing the burden of osteoporosis,” he said.

Winners will be announced on November 12.

The new Lifehouse facility has now “topped out” - that is, it has reached the top floor (level 9), which means no more concrete.

Brookfield Multiplex and its contractors are now working on the partitions for levels 4 and 5, and the facade of the building, which is gradually being put in place.

Staff working near the site can also expect the plant and equipment deliveries to continue.

The latest photos show the view from the inpatient verandah on the top floor and an artist’s impression of inpatient rooms, due to be completed as part of the second stage in 2015/16.

5HealthMatters

Concord can cook

A three-course meal designed to help you live longer won over the taste-buds of those voting in the inaugural Concord SuperChef event.

The friendly cook-off saw two teams of medical staff create dishes to feed the crowd during Concord Clinical Week.

The Blue team, Meng Ngu, Professor David Le Couteur and Lloyd Ridley, won the popular

vote with their long-life salad, vermicelli and vegetables, and red wine infused oranges.

The Black team, Professor Bob Lusby, Judith Trotman and Jan Bell, created an authentic Spanish seafood paella.

Fishy business …the Black team’s seafood paella.

They don’t breed football fans much more fervent than Joumana Hadid.

When the Canterbury Bulldogs secured their place in this year’s NRL grand final, Joumana, a clerk in the emergency department at Canterbury Hospital, was on holidays in the United States.

She caught a flight home and, due to spend another week in Queensland, changed her plans so she could attend the Dogs’ qualifying final against Manly, before decorating her house, her sister’s house, her car – and Canterbury Hospital’s emergency department in blue and white.

Joumana and her five brothers and sisters were all born in Canterbury Hospital, and she still lives in Campsie, deep in the Bulldogs’ heartland.

“I’ve loved the Bulldogs my entire life. Everyone knows how I feel about them. I have a Bulldog and a ball on my desk here at work 365 days a year. Now I have 10 nephews and nieces who also follow the Bulldogs.”

The Telopea and children’s wards and the cafeteria were also dressed with streamers and balloons for the grand final.

Despite going down 14-4 to Melbourne the Bulldogs are still top dogs at Canterbury Hospital where they recently donated $38,000 for a new ventilator in the Grevillia Ward.

Former players Terry Lamb and Brett Kimmorley and current first grader Dene Halatau visited the hospital to meet staff and patients, including

youngsters in the children’s ward.

Canterbury Hospital’s general manager Ann Kelly praised the Bulldogs for their generosity.

“We’re so grateful to the Bulldogs for their donation and ongoing support of the hospital,” she said.

Digging deep for the Dogs

Lap it up ... Joumana Hadid, centre, with staff and children, outside Canterbury Hospital’s emergency department.

Winners …SuperChefs Professor David Le Couteur, Meng Ngu and Lloyd Ridley.

Super salad…the winning dish, guaranteed to make you live longer.

6 HealthMatters Sydney – it’s your local health district

Employees at the Sydney Dental Hospital are a generous lot.

Almost 34 per cent are giving $1 a week to Sydney Local Health District’s Workplace Giving program which supports the Barbara May Foundation in northern Ethiopia.

Staff at Balmain are hot on their heels with one in three donating money, while about one in five are donating from Canterbury, Concord and RPA hospitals.

“We are very grateful to those staff who already donate to the Workplace Giving Program but I would love to encourage others to also join,” SLHD’s Customer Service and Operational Revenue Manager, John O’Grady, said.

Through the Workplace Giving Program, staff have already raised and donated more than $300,000 ($13,000 a month) to help the Barbara May Foundation build a fully equipped, 20-bed maternity hospital in the Afar region.

Funds have also been used to train and equip birth attendants in villages to manage women in their pregnancies and deliver low risk cases.

The Foundation is expecting the hospital and birth attendants will reduce the death rate of Afar women dying from pregnancy in their lifetimes from 1 in 12, to 1 in 120.

Dr Andrew Browning, an Australian gynaecologist and obstetrician who set up the Foundation, will be in Sydney in November to personally thank staff and talk about the work being carried out in Ethiopia.

He will speak to clinicians at Concord Hospital on November 1 from 8.30am-9.30am and to general staff from 11 until noon. Both talks will be in conference room 1. He will also speak at RPA on November 20 between 12pm and 1pm in the KPEC Auditorium 4.1.

“I’d encourage staff to attend these talks and hear about the fantastic work being carried out by the Barbara May Foundation. Our donations are saving lives every day,” Mr O’Grady said.

To join the Workplace Giving Program go to http://intranet.sswahs.nsw.gov.au/SSWAHS/WGP/default.html

Dental staff get teeth into donating

In the mediaRPA neurologist Michael Halmagyi appeared on Channel 7’s Today Tonight to discuss the incidence and symptoms of migraine. He was also interviewed by Channel 10’s The Project for a story on the rare but intriguing Stiff Person Syndrome, a condition affecting one person in every million.

Canterbury clerk Joumana Hadid appeared in The Daily Telegraph after feverishly decorating the hospital’s emergency department in blue and white for the NRL grand final.

Canterbury’s general manager Ann Kelly also bunkered down with the Bulldogs for a photo in the Canterbury-Bankstown Express

after the Dogs donated $38,000 for a ventilator in the Grevillea Ward.

RPA sleep expert Ron Grunstein made the Channel 9 national news when he was awarded the prestigious RPA Medal for his work on sleep apnoea and related disorders.

RPA acting executive director Joanne Edwards was interviewed by the Inner West Courier in celebration of the hospital’s 130th birthday.

The launch of the Concord Cancer Centre also made the news in the Inner West Courier and the Village Voice, with director of cancer services Phillip Beale and former patient Jade Porter, heralding it as cutting edge.

Concord Burns Unit NUM Christine Parker, was also featured in the Inner West Courier after she was awarded Rotary’s Paul Harris Fellowship medal for her 23 years as a burns nurse, 13 of them at Concord.

Genevieve Wallace, from BreastScreen, featured in the Canterbury Torch promoting the mobile van’s visit to Revesby while Katrina Hurley and Michelle Maiese from SLHD’s child protection unit made the Burwood Scene for their pilot program on peri-natal conferencing.

RPA played host to shock jock and organ recipient Derryn Hinch when he appeared as a guest speaker at the transplant symposium. Hinch later told his 3AW listeners that Sydneysiders has always been “competitive as hell” and would rally to increase organ donation rates.

7HealthMatters

Guiding hand for counsellors

“It has to fit in the glove box and you shouldn’t need a medical degree to make sense of it.”

That was part of the initial brief for RPA Hospital’s Drug Health specialist Professor Kate Conigrave and a team of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal health professionals tasked with creating an Australian first handbook to help clinicians address alcohol and drug issues.

“Clinicians in the alcohol and drug field are helping people with a mix of social, physical and mental health issues, as well as with alcohol or drugs,” Professor Conigrave said.

“So the same person who suffers from alcohol withdrawal seizures may also need treatment for viral hepatitis, treatment for mental health problems because of past traumas, and may urgently need secure and safe housing,” she said.

“The clinician is trying to make all of this happen as well as supporting the person

to stay away from alcohol, and all the time treatments for alcohol and drug problems are improving and changing so clinicians need to stay up to date.”

NSW Ministry of Health Aboriginal Drug and Alcohol Traineeship Coordinator Steve Ella said there was a long overdue need for a resource like the new handbook.

“Sometimes a worker in the country may have to drive a person many hours to the nearest detox facility so they need this handbook to carry with them out on the road or in the community to provide them with up-to- date information on what to do,” Mr Ella said.

The Handbook for Aboriginal Alcohol and Drug Work was created in partnership between the University of Sydney and Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal agencies and health professionals. It was launched by NSW Governor, Professor Marie Bashir.

Australian first...handbook editors Steve Ella, Dr Kylie Lee, Professor Kate Conigrave, Jimmy Perry, Bradley Freeburn and Warren Miller (not pictured).

SLHD scoops grantsFour of Sydney Local Health District’s leading medical research institutes have been awarded grants by the NSW Government under the NSW Medical Research Support Program, 2012-2016.

The Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology, the ANZAC Research Institute, The George Institute for Global Health and the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research were among a pool of 11 recipients, all independently assessed by a panel of experts.

Aboriginal unityThe first Sydney Metropolitan Local Aboriginal health partnership agreement between the Aboriginal Medical Service and the major health districts in Sydney has been signed.

The agreement aims to create a more culturally appropriate health service, and to provide Aboriginal communities with the best medical, nursing and allied health services available.

A painting titled, “Branching out to different communities”, by Aboriginal artist Kayelene Slater will act as a visual representation of the agreement and will spend time at each facility in the Sydney Local Health District.

Working for womenCanterbury Hospital will next month host a seminar on “Developing maternity care that works for women”.

The program boasts an array of experienced presenters, including renowned midwife Maralyn Foureur who will discuss building resilience in midwives and mothers. There will also be a presentation reflecting on the first year of Canterbury’s Midwifery Group practice.

Register your interest by contacting Kate Griew on 9787 0000.

A basic physician trainee from Royal Prince Alfred Hospital has been awarded the prestigious Bryan Hudson Medal for taking top honours in this year’s Royal Australasian College of Physicians examinations.

Dr Brent O’Carrigan beat more than 500 candidates from across Australia and New Zealand to take out the honours in the written and clinical exams in adult medicine.

It is the second year in a row that an RPA

physician has been awarded the Bryan Hudson Medal with Dr Kelly Stanton winning last year, a testament to the dedicated consultants, advanced trainees and support staff who contribute to the basic physician training program.

Dr O’Carrigan, currently working a four-month stint at Dubbo Base Hospital, plans to specialise in oncology when he returns to RPA next year.

He will be presented with his medal at the annual RACP ceremony in Perth in May next year.

Top honours for RPA trainee

HealthMatters is all about you. We would love to hear your stories. Simply email sydneymedia@sswahs.nsw.gov.au

Produced by: Sydney Local Health DistrictDesign & Print by: Horizon Media Printed on Precision Offset PEFC CertifiedISO 14001 Environmental Accreditation

RPA Reunion Week

Opera Night at Rivendell is a unique event held in the beautiful grounds of the Thomas Walker Estate overlooking the banks of the Parramatta River.

The three hour concert, to be held on Saturday, November 10 from 6.30pm, is an annual event that raises funds for Concord Hospital and this year all proceeds will be directed to the Concord Cancer Centre.

In its 10th year, the open air Opera will this year have a special anniversary theme of Opera to Broadway.

Featuring acclaimed soprano Deborah Cheetham, performing alongside soprano Virginia-Marie Stack, tenor Warren Fisher and baritone Tiriki Onus, Opera Night at Rivendell will showcase inspiring and popular arias and duets under the stars.

In a magical setting that includes a spectacular fireworks display the New South Wales Ambulance Band and the 35-piece Rivendell Philharmonic Orchestra led by conductor Steven Hillinger, will support the classical brilliance of these performers.

This is truly an event not to be missed. For more information on the event and for ticket purchases please visit www.operanightatrivendell.com.au

Classical brilliance under the stars for a worthy cause