Chief Executive Update: Wednesday 27 April 2022

Chief Executive Update – 27 April 2022

As of today, we have:

• 99 COVID-19 positive inpatients
• 183 employees with COVID-19
• 37 employees in precautionary quarantine
• 78 employees who are primary close contacts and working under public health exemption

In this update, we cover:

• New pandemic orders and keeping up to date with our current COVID-19 precautions
• CCU transition to Casey Hospital
• Patient Experience Week
• No Flu in 2022: Have you had your free flu vaccination?
• Changes to our vaccination program
• Monash Health Dandenong COVID-19 Screening Clinic to close
• NAMAS nominations
• Allied Health Awards and celebrating our Allied Health teams
• Preparing for an August Accreditation
• Keeping people safe – family violence and child information sharing scheme update
• Face-to-face meeting policy remains unchanged
• Updated advice for close contacts
• Renew your annual Nursing and Midwifery registration
• Sign up for the 10th Annual Walk for Monash Children’s Hospital!
• Learning Emotional Literacy – Digital Wellbeing Series spotlight
• Half-price gym memberships for Monash Health employees!
• STAR Awards – Ward 4B Aviary celebrated for their tireless dedication to their patients

New pandemic orders – visitor restrictions stay in place

Last week, the Victorian government announced a further easing of restrictions based on the high vaccination rates in Victoria and data showing the Omicron peak is beginning to subside.

While most COVID-19 restrictions eased across Victoria from 11:59pm Friday 22 April 2022, as a health service, we have continued to apply some precautions that reflect our local circumstances and context in order to protect our patients, workforce and community.

Our settings remain largely the same. As a top priority, we will continue to manage the risk to you and our patients, by keeping our workplace safe.

We have seen over the weekend our COVID-19 patient numbers continue to rise. Throughout the pandemic there has been a lag between infection numbers and hospitalisations, so this next week is likely to give us a good sense about what we can expect next.

In my CE Alert on Friday (22 April) I outlined how the latest changes affect us. In summary, and at this time:

• There are no changes to visitor restrictions in Monash Health hospitals, community or aged care settings.
• There are no changes to employee or visitor mask use.
• Asymptomatic people will be exempt from testing or quarantine for 12 weeks if they’ve had COVID-19 – up from eight weeks.
• Please see the key messages (below) for how the changes to close contacts may affect healthcare workers and what you need to do.

With the changes to the pandemic orders, we have also taken the opportunity to update the employee guidance for you to download, print and refer to for the latest updates and guidance.

CCU transition to Casey Hospital

Yesterday (Tuesday, 26 April), we transitioned our Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) from Dandenong Hospital to Casey Hospital.

Rapid changes and adjustments as part of our COVID-19 response meant we had to delay and defer this move. However, it’s great to see that a significant amount of consultation and planning has been realised and that our CCU services are now up and running at Casey Hospital.

With current and forecast growth in demand for cardiac services in the Casey-Cardinia area, the relocation of this service will provide our community there with a contemporary clinical service. It also enhances our capacity and service capability at both Casey and Dandenong hospitals and aligns our clinical services with our longer-term plans and the establishment of the Victorian Heart Hospital next year.

We appreciate the patience and co-operation of our CCU employees. Our Casey and Dandenong Hospital teams have remained patient, and their professionalism has been exemplary.

Patient Experience Week

We celebrate Patient Experience Week this week, which runs from Monday 25 to Friday 29 April 2022. I encourage you to get involved and take advantage of the events, opportunities and competitions we are running.

Thank you, as always, for the role you play in helping provide excellent care to our community.

Andrew Stripp
Chief Executive

Key Messages

No Flu in 2022: Have you had your free flu vaccination?

This year’s flu vaccinations for employees are off to a flying start and we are keen to see this continue. Our annual program of free flu vaccinations is now available to all Monash Health employees.

Protect yourself, your family, patients and colleagues as soon as you can.

Find more information and details of where to get your Flu vaccination here.

Changes to Monash Health COVID-19 Vaccination Clinics

As we announced in March, it’s time to adjust and consolidate our vaccination clinic operations over the coming weeks and months.

Monash Health’s efforts to administer around 1 million COVID-19 vaccines has supported over 90% of those eligible in the community to be vaccinated and protected against COVID-19. As a result, we continue to see a natural decrease in the demand for vaccinations both in Monash Health’s vaccination clinics and across Victoria.

As we continue to see primary care (GPs and pharmacies) become the primary providers of COVID-19 vaccinations and with our hospitals experiencing workforce issues and an increasing number of patients needing urgent care, Monash Health will make the following changes to its COVID-19 vaccination clinics over the coming weeks:

• Progressively from 18 April – vaccination clinics to offer Pfizer and Paediatric Pfizer vaccines only
• Week commencing 25 April – all clinics to operate 5 days per week (days and hours available here)
• 29 April – close Monash Medical Centre COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic (COVID-19 vaccines to continue being offered to employees via Monash Immunisation)
• 14 May – close Dandenong Plaza COVID-19 Vaccination Clinic
• 14 May – close Cranbourne COVID-19 Mass Vaccination Centre

Monash Health Dandenong COVID-19 Screening Clinic to close

Monash Health’s Dandenong COVID-19 Screening Clinic will close on 28 April 2022.

Due to adjustments being made across the Victorian COVID-19 testing program, the increase of Rapid Antigen Testing and changes to Victorian public health requirements, we have recently seen a substantial and natural decrease in demand at our Dandenong COVID-19 Screening Clinic with only 25% of the clinic’s capacity being utilised currently.

To find a COVID-19 testing clinic near you, you can visit the Victorian Government’s Where to get tested webpage.

Thank you everyone who has worked at our COVID-19 screening clinics. Your commitment and contributions have made such an important difference to the health and wellbeing of the communities we support.

Since opening our Screening Program first begun, Monash Health has provided approximately 700,000 PCR tests and over 10,000 Rapid Antigen Tests.

You can read more about this change here.

NAMAS nominees announced

The NAMAS are a highlight of the Nursing and Midwifery calendar and a wonderful opportunity to celebrate and formally acknowledge the outstanding achievements of our Monash Health and Jessie McPherson Private Hospital Nurses and Midwives.

The NAMAS 2022 event is just around the corner and will be held online on Thursday 12 May 2022.

A big congratulations to all our nominees for NAMAS 2022!

Celebrating our Allied Health teams

Make sure to join us for our Allied Health Awards this year, as we celebrate our Allied Health teams and their contributions and commitment to Monash Health. You can join via WebEx at 3pm on Monday, 2 May.

In the lead up to the Allied Health Awards, we’ve been spotlighting some of the fantastic new grads in our Allied Health Early Graduate Program. Read all about how Ruby found her feet as a podiatrist, how music therapist Sam strikes a chord with patients, and how Jiggy went from physio patient to physiotherapist.

Preparing for an August Accreditation

Monash Health is set to undergo a National Standards accreditation assessment from Monday 15 August to Friday 19 August 2022.

Preparing for accreditation is about ensuring you feel confident and comfortable when you meet with the assessors in August, to showcase the great work that you do every day to deliver high-quality care and great patient experience.

Over the coming weeks and months, we will be supporting you not only to continue these processes, but how to provide the assessors with the information they require for Monash Health to achieve full accreditation status in August.

We’ll be keeping you up to date with what you need to know and do in the lead up to accreditation with our regular Accreditation Bulletin emails. For all the latest information, resources and tools you need to get Accreditation-ready, be sure to visit our re-launched employee Accreditation website.

Keeping people safe – family violence and child information sharing scheme update 

Monash Health employees can now request or share information to help keep people safe.

Changes to the Family Violence Protection Act (2008) and Child Wellbeing and Safety Act (2005) were enacted on 21 April 2021. These legislation changes mean that public services, such as hospitals and police, general practitioners, and family violence organisations can now share information with each other.

It should be noted that this change doesn’t interfere with the existing information sharing legislation, such as privacy or child protection legislation.

For more information, including the details about the information sharing updates, our Family violence and child information procedures and how to register for the inaugural Multi-Agency Risk Assessment and Management Framework (MARAM) and Information Sharing Week (26 to 29 April 2022), read our keeping people safe – family violence and child information sharing scheme update.

Face-to-face meeting policy remains unchanged

Face-to-face training and education can occur in person as long as all public health measures are taken (mask use, distancing). Please see the COVID-19 Training Checklist on PROMPT for details.

Updated advice for close contacts

Close contacts outside the hospital will no longer have to quarantine – provided they perform daily

rapid antigen testing for five days, wear a mask indoors and avoid sensitive settings such as hospitals and aged care facilities.

Healthcare workers who are close contacts and have no symptoms are able to attend work provided you:

• Notify your manager and complete the Monash Health Close Contact Form
• Undertake daily RAT testing for five days
• Wear an N95 while onsite and have breaks alone.

Healthcare workers who are close contacts and have symptoms may return to work if you meet the following criteria:

• You have received a negative PCR test
• Your symptoms are improving or you are feeling better (no muscle aches and pains, no headache, improving cough, etc.)
• You have not experienced a fever in the past 24 hours
• Notify your manager and complete the Monash Health Close Contact Form
• Undertake daily RAT testing for five days
• Wear an N95 while onsite and have breaks alone.

If your PCR test returns a negative result, but your symptoms are not improving or worsening, do not attend work. Please take another PCR test.

Renew your annual Nursing and Midwifery registration

Online annual registration renewal for nurses and midwives is now open.

We encourage all Monash Health registered and enrolled nurses, midwives and nurse practitioners to renew your registration early and avoid delays during the busy renewal period.

Renewing your registration is easy. Simply, visit the Australian Health Practitioner Regulations Agency (AHPRA) website to complete your online renewal.

Sign up for the 10th Annual Walk for Monash Children’s Hospital!

Join us for the 10th annual Walk for Monash Children’s Hospital. By walking with us, you can help us raise vital funds for children in our care.

Registration is free for Monash Health employees when you use discount coupon code: MHE2022.

In case you need extra incentive to sign up, early registrations will have a chance to win a night at Chadstone Hotel for two people and all Monash Health employees who sign up before 6 May will get a chance to win free coffee for a year!

For more information and to register, visit the Walk for Monash Children’s Hospital website.

Learning Emotional Literacy – Digital Wellbeing Series spotlight

Emotional literacy is the ability to recognise and label emotions as you are experiencing them. It may sound simple to some people, but emotional literacy is an important skill we can practice in our daily lives to improve our sense of happiness and our mental health.

This month our Digital Wellbeing series is focussing on how you can learn emotional literacy. Find out more here.

Half-price gym memberships for Monash Health employees!

Now that the Easter Bunny’s been and gone, it’s the perfect time to invest in a half-price gym membership from Healthwise Fitness.

Healthwise Fitness is offering half-price gym memberships to Monash Health employees until the end of June 2022. Find out more here.

Ward 4B Aviary celebrated for their ongoing commitment and tireless dedication to their patients 

Ward 4B Aviary, Monash Children’s Hospital Clayton, are the STAR Award winners in the In Pursuit of Excellence category for Q4 2021.

The team has been recognised for their ongoing commitment and tireless dedication to promote holistic healthcare outcomes and for achieving significant recovery milestones for their vulnerable patient cohort.