Published on 12 May 2022

Busy First Quarter of the Year

This year seems to be flying past in the blink of an eye. Whilst many in our community are back to living a somewhat normal life post Covid, I appreciate and am very aware that this is not the case in the health and aged care sectors.

As you know and no doubt continue to experience, demand, access and flow across our health service continues to put pressure on all of us, and I appreciate this can take its toll on staff.

I hope that, despite these challenges, you have been able to take some well-deserved breaks wherever possible and that during the Easter period you hopped on down for your hot cross buns and Easter eggs at our Easter pop-up stalls.

Sticking with the Easter theme some things don’t change and I’m sure many of the local residents were thrilled to see the return of our annual Easter Fest and Easter Hunt on the Good Friday public holiday.  From all accounts it was a very successful day with over 5000 people walking through the gates, eager to find some chocolate delights!

Transition activity is occurring at pace across many domains.  There are a large number of clinically focused working groups’ underway, and significant progress in the transition of our non-clinical services.

We continue to work on the integration of our IT networks as a matter of priority, however this is a complex problem and as such requires a range of complex solutions. I know this can and will cause frustration due to the burdensome impact two systems can create and I thank you for your patience as we work towards the integration our networks and ultimately a universal electronic medical record.  This is going to take us a few years and we are working on landing some specific timelines and key milestones that we can share with you soon.

A big thanks to the Food Services team and all staff involved who have demonstrated agility and collaboration as they implement an alternate meal model in response to the kitchen closure due to infrastructure upgrade works that have just been completed.  Thank-you for your commitment to provide the Best Care to our patients and residents through your food.

On behalf of myself and the executive team I would like to extend my thanks for your ongoing efforts in providing Best care and so willingly and authentically engaging in transition activity.

We Welcome

  • Peter Stemp - Business Manager Operations
    Peter Stemp

    Bacchus Marsh and Melton Business Manager

    Peter will be supporting every cost centre manager to understand and take responsibility for budgets. In addition where extensions of services are required, Peter will be supporting the service with business case writing to secure additional funds to grow the service.

  • Tom Jones - Bacchus Marsh and Melton Projects Team
    Tom Jones

    Project Manager

    Tom has joined the Bacchus Marsh and Melton Projects Team  as a Project Manager; with many projects  underway or to be started by the team, we welcome Tom to this very exciting time at the Bacchus Marsh and Melton sites

  • Dylan Aldous & Hai Nguyen - Counselling and Family Violence Services
    Dylan Aldous

    Manager Counselling and Family Violence 
    Hai Nguyen

    Senior Clinician Family Violence

    We welcome the new Manager Counselling and Family Violence, Dylan Aldous who started last week and Hai Nguyen, the Senior Clinician Family Violence who started the week prior to Dylan. Both colleagues will be working from the Melton Community Services building (yellow building).

    It is fantastic to have both Dylan and Hai on board, please give our two new colleagues a warm welcome when you cross paths.

Services and Programs

Caraniche Employee Assistance Program (EAP) Provider

In the coming weeks we will be promoting the services that Caraniche provide and will look at tailoring sessions to provide information that is important to you and your teams.

Caraniche has been a long term EAP provider for Western Health and is one of the leading organisations in this field.

This is a confidential and professional service that aims to identify and resolve both workplace and personal issues that you may be experiencing.

Please keep a lookout for promotions on how Caraniche can help and support you.

Clinical Transition News

Work is well underway in the transition of clinical services at Bacchus Marsh and Melton, with more services starting their transition journey.

We are excited to have transition subcommittees in many clinical areas up and running. These now include Maternity, Gynaecology, Neonatal and Pediatrics, Perioperative, Pharmacy and Cancer Services.  Work has also commenced to align the Deteriorating Patient Systems with the broader Western Health. We’ll be looking at how we can introduce Medical Emergency Team (MET Calls) and other rapid response systems to the Bacchus Marsh and Melton campuses. Scoping of our current resuscitation equipment has been undertaken to see if there’s any additional equipment or trolleys that are needed to support clinical staff in providing Best Care.

A Medical Workforce Sub-committee has also been established to assist in a successful transition of medical staff into the broader Western Health.

Work on the integration and structure of Community Services continues with some exciting opportunities being explored for the service to continue responding to population growth and community need.

It’s been great to have fantastic engagement and representation from staff in all aspects of clinical transition, to continue our provision of Best Care to all our patients, clients and families.

Community Services

Ruth Martin is currently doing a short term secondment into a Transition Community Services Director. Ruth’s expertise in all of the community area is extremely valuable to understanding the services and how we can progress with this work.

Siobhan Newman, Ruth Martin and Sharon Read have worked with the managers in community services to develop a structure that will provide additional capacity to support, lead, further develop service models and opportunities to partner with the local community. More information on this will be provided to you as soon.

BOB Program

Our Being Our Best (BOB) Culture and Leadership Development Program commenced in April.

BOB forms part of the transition work, offering support and opportunities for all staff and volunteers to identify and reflect on key priorities as we transition. The program will draw on your skills and expertise to help shape the organisational culture you and your colleagues would like to be part of. 

BOB consists of 4 modules:

Culture Conversations

Coaching Conversations

Accountability Conversations

Learning Conversations

We are currently nearing the completion of Module 1 – Culture Conversations, where all our leaders are being trained to lead workshops for staff and volunteers to build a values-centred culture. As the BOB program is rolled out across Bacchus Marsh and Melton, all our leaders should expect to have the full support of the senior leadership team to help facilitate the program. 

For leaders yet to participate in the Culture Conversations Introduction and Train the Trainer session, please get in touch with Khanh Do, Senior Consultant Organisational Development (Khanh.Do@wh.org.au), to book your place. Module 2 – Coaching Conversations, where leaders will be trained in coaching by a qualified Executive Coach, commences in mid-June.

Flu Vax

The Influenza Immunisation Program for 2022 was launched across Western Health with the Infection Prevention and Control team roving to all areas across both the Bacchus Marsh and Melton sites. Thank you to Candice and Rachel for making the Flu Vax process smooth and efficient. Flu vaccination is mandated this year.

Important: Make sure to bring you Medicare card with you. If you don’t have your Medicare Card, we need your IHI number. Your vaccination will be delayed without your Medicare number.

All staff who receive the vaccine elsewhere outside of Western Health MUST complete a Redcap survey, complete and attach your vaccination certificate available through your Medicare webpage. Please click here to access the Redcap Survey. 

 

What's New?

Staff Forum with Russell, Suellen and Claire

For any staff who may have missed last week’s forum on Thursday 5th May discussing the latest transition updates with Russell Harrison (Chief Executive) , Suellen Bruce (Executive Director of People, Culture and Communications), and Claire Moody (Director of Transition); please click on the link or image to watch a recording of the Webinar.

 

Kitchen open for Business

The kitchen upgrade has been completed ahead of schedule with the kitchen back to “business as usual”. There will be some more minor works scheduled but will not require the kitchen to close. Thank you to all the staff for their patience while this major upgrade was made.

 

 

 

 

Lighting up the Theatre Car Park

Lighting has been installed in the Theatre carpark and the footpath to Urgent Care. This is an important and timely installation heading into winter with shorter days and frosty weather.

 

 

 

 

 

What's Next?

Transition of Staff e-mails

The Digital Technology Services Team have been hard at work preparing for the upcoming transition of staff e-mails.

This project is currently in its testing phase and is due to go live at the end of May.

This will mean that there will be an automated change of email addresses from Firstname.Lastname@djhs.org.au to Firstname.Lastname@wh.org.au

Staff do not need to take any action to facilitate this transition and there will be no change to how email accounts are used.

Once the e-mail transition has occurred an automatic signature will be applied to all accounts with a brief description so that external mail recipients are aware of the change.

This is another exciting step closer in our digital technology integration!

 

Did You Know?

Congratulation to the Bacchus Marsh EasterFest Committee

Congratulations to Dotty and the Bacchus Marsh EasterFest team for all their hard work in  fundraising to support the Bacchus Marsh Urgent Care Department. There were around 5000 people making their way to Maddingley Park on Good Friday with Easter egg hunts, market stalls and rides for the kids. The event hasn’t taken place for the last two years due to the COVID pandemic but with beautiful weather on the day, it was great to see so many families out having fun. The event raised $8651.11 to the BM Urgent Care Department which will help purchase the portable ultrasound machine for the department.

Melton Hospital

Please click on the link below to view the article published in the Westerly on 4 May 2022 about the exciting announcement of the new Melton Hospital.
Read here

other media

https://www.vhba.vic.gov.au/news/new-melton-hospital-funding