Transition News 6th Edition – 15 December 2021

Thank you all for your hard work and support during the past six months

As I head into my 25th week as General Manager of Bacchus Marsh, Melton, and Caroline Springs, I cannot be prouder of the way we all have come together as a team, working towards the common of providing Best Care for the community we serve.

For many of these 25 weeks managing COVID related processes became a priority. The Bacchus Marsh, Melton and Caroline Springs teams responded swiftly to these demands which brought the best out in our teams who constantly demonstrated exceptional dedication and commitment through challenging times.

Like many other health services, surgery was significantly reduced at Bacchus Marsh and staff were redeployed to areas of need, including the COVID testing clinic, the Medical Surgical Unit, Grant Lodge, Maternity and HITH. Thank you to all staff who agreed to be redeployed during this time, your support enabled care delivery to be channelled to areas where it was most needed, which could not have been achieved without your willingness to participate.

The focus has recently been turned back onto the alignment of the two health services, with many tasks and processes in place to secure a safe transition. Maternity Services will be earmarked as the first service transitioned; this is an exciting first step.

As we move closer to Christmas on behalf of the leadership team, I would like to thank you all for your hard work and support during the past six months.  We would also like to wish you all a wonderful festive season and encourage you all you to use this time to rest and enjoy catching up with family and friends.

Stay safe and see you all in the New Year.

Regards

Sandy Schutte

Transition Webinar Thursday 2 Dec 2021

Join Russell, Suellen, Sandy and Claire for the latest information regarding the work that is being done at Bacchus Marsh, Melton and Caroline Springs as we transition to become part of Western Health.

Welcome

We welcome A/Prof David Smallwood into the role of Deputy Chief Medical Officer with Western Health. Primarily based at Bacchus Marsh, David will provide coverage of our new sites in this region, focusing on the medical workforce and supporting the transition process to Western Health governance structures.

Having trained as a Respiratory Physician, David joins us after 30 years in various clinical roles, as well as extensive leadership experience across two large health services. Most recently, David has been the Director of General Medicine at Austin Health, where he has managed one of the largest Departments in the organisation, as well as having significant leadership responsibilities in the Austin’s response to the COVID pandemic. David also comes with substantial expertise with governance processes, having been the Clinical Lead for the National Standard, Communicating for Safety, across two health services over the last ten years. He also has a particular interest in patient safety and improving hospital processes to ensure safe care at every opportunity.

David has also held positions with the Therapeutic Goods Administration, The Australian Medical Council (where he remains an active accreditor of medical colleges) and is currently the Chair of College of Physicians CPD Committee.

David is an A/Prof of Medical Education and remains co-appointed in his role as the lead for clinical assessment in the Department of Medical Education at the University of Melbourne. In addition, as a previous co-Director of Physician Education, he will bring a wealth of experience in assessment and teaching, as well as a passion for workforce supervision and support.

Congratulations to our 2021 Graduate Nurses and Midwives

We celebrated the achievements of our Graduate Nurses and Midwives last week, as they near completion of their 12-month program.

They have demonstrated such resilience in what has been another challenging year for our front line workers.

We wish them all the best for their future and know they will all have rewarding careers where they will continue to shine!

Expression of interest: It's not too late to register!

We are committed to giving staff a voice in all elements of the transition activity and are exploring ways to facilitate this through transition staff focus groups and transition representative roles that will hold memberships in the working groups. Another keyway staff can be involved is through our ‘designing the culture’ work. This initiative is focused on integrating the Bacchus Marsh and Melton cultures into Western Health. This will be a sub-committee connected to the workforce, culture and communication working group. To register your “expression of interest”, click on the EOI button above.

Inspire Awards

Code of conduct, privacy policy and social media.

Code of Conduct

Western Health is committed to a workplace that promotes and takes positive action towards achieving equal opportunity and gender equality throughout its conduct and the expected standard of behaviour and will ensure that compliance with all relevant legislation is attained.

Click here to read: Policy – Code of Conduct

Social Media

Please read the attached procedure to provide guidance and clarification to Western Health personnel regarding the use of social media and the impacts and risks of disclosure across all social media platforms.
Click here to read: Social Media – Access, Utilisation and Obligations

Privacy Policy

This policy is to ensure that staff of Western Health understand their obligations regarding patient personal and health information privacy and confidentiality under the relevant laws.

Please read: Policy – Information Privacy

What's New

One of two new maternity birthing suites.

• We recently transitioned to the organisation wide daily COVID Attestation tool

• COVID HITH has transitioned to Covid Monitor for management of covid patients in their home

• After hours button at the main entrance to the hospital has been upgraded with a new system allowing the AHC and maternity staff to receive camera images and voice enquiries
• Our newborn babies will be feeling much warmer in our Maternity ward thanks to the new blanket warmer.
• Even your mask won’t disguise the smell of freshly painted walls in our maternity ward – we are thrilled to be opening two new birthing suites.

What's Next?

• TV screens near the coffee shops displaying the latest news and updates – you can get you caffeine and local intel fix all at once!
• We are excited to let you know that single sign on is coming for ALL staff at Bacchus Marsh and Melton – read more here
• Alaris BD infusion pumps are coming! – All current Plum infusion pumps will be replaced with Alaris BD pumps in Early 2022! Keep an eye out for information regarding education to support the roll out and the opportunity to be a Alaris Champion for your area in the next few weeks! Any questions, please get in touch with Grace Crowe–grace.crowe@wh.org.au or Chelsea Cornford Chelsea.cornford@djhs.org.au
• Staff culture survey – We will be inviting all staff to complete a ten-minute culture survey in late January for a few weeks.
• Western Health emails are coming late January 2022

Bacchus Marsh Ladies Auxiliary-AGM

On Thursday, 18 Nov 2021, the Bacchus Marsh Ladies Auxiliary held their AGM at the hospital, the ladies were presented with a commemorative Djerriwarrh Health Service badge and a welcome pack from Western Health. Over the years, many changes have been seen, with the hospital transitioning from Bacchus Marsh War Memorial Hospital to Djerriwarrh Health Services (Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital) and now to Western Health Bacchus Marsh Hospital.  We are very fortunate that Bacchus Marsh Ladies Auxiliary have always supported our hospital and its community.

Did You Know?

Thank you Cards

Christmas Decorations

As we speed towards Christmas, thank you to all the teams involved in decorating their areas and showing their creative talents. It really does make for a special time having the all the decorations up for us to enjoy the festive season and have some fun!