Chief Executive Update – Wednesday 15 June 2022

Chief Executive Update – 15 June 2022

As of today, we have:

• 113 COVID-19 positive inpatients
• 129 employees with COVID-19
• 31 employees in precautionary quarantine
• 40 employees who are primary close contacts and working under public health exemption

In this update, we cover:  

• Organisational arrangements   
• People matter survey 
• Healthcare Worker Winter Retention and Surge Payment 
• UKG Dimensions replacing Kronos  
• Improving the way we receive referrals
• Admission of symptomatic patients 
• Preparing for Accreditation 
• Flu Vaccination 

Organisational arrangements 

After much consultation, careful consideration and in discussion with my Executive colleagues, the new organisational structure has been finalised.  

The changes are about continuing our path, planning, and preparing ourselves for the best way forward for our people, our patients, and the community we serve.   

Our new organisational arrangements aim to streamline the operational management of our Clinical Programs and continue to align our clinical services through new and existing partnerships between our Program Directors and General Managers. We seek to improve timely decision-making, improve on delegations of authority, increase opportunities for career progression and better support the organisation’s strategic focus.   

The new Corporate and Operational structures along with an outline of the main changes to our Corporate structure can be found here.   

Thank you for the constructive way you have engaged with this process as we work together and strive for excellence. 

People matter survey – have your say 

The 2022 People matter survey is now live. We want to hear from you about how we can make Monash Health a great place to work.  

The People matter survey is a safe and anonymous way for you to tell us what you think about your workplace. Survey results will help us find out what we’re doing well and where we need to improve. 

Click here to take the survey.  

$3,000 Healthcare Worker Winter Surge Payment 

The Victorian Government has announced a Healthcare Worker Winter Surge Payment, which recognises your efforts caring for our community over Winter

The Government announcement advised that all employees of public health services, Ambulance Victoria and Forensicare will be eligible for the one-off $3,000 payment.   

In addition to the Winter Support Payment, it was also announced that the Healthcare Worker Wellbeing program will be expanded to allow services to support the provision of meals and refreshments to busy workers on night shifts. 

The guidelines for both these measures are currently being developed by the Department of Health. We will update you with information about the Winter Support Payment and the Healthcare Worker Wellbeing program, including advice about payment dates, when it becomes available. 

UKG Dimensions replacing Kronos 

UKG Dimensions will launch across Monash Health in October, replacing Kronos Workforce Central. This upgrade will make it easier to manage our working patterns, including scheduling, open shifts, and employee requests, when and where you need to.  

In preparation, we all need to complete some training material: 

• UKG Dimensions training for Employees 
• UKG Dimensions training for Managers 
• UKG Dimensions training for Self-scheduling Managers and employees   

You can also attend any of our twice-weekly Question and Answer sessions if you have any questions. 

Additional information is available on the UKG Dimensions Knowledge Hub. 

Improving the way we receive referrals 

We continue on our path to ensuring we offer the safest systems to manage our patients’ health. Over the last two years we have been providing the HealthLink eReferral system for our referring general practitioners. It is the most secure, safe and reliable way to send a referral to Monash Health.

Effective Monday 4 July 2022, referrals using the HealthLink eReferral system will be prioritised.

Fax, post or email will continue to be available during a transition period, however, will cease on Monday 18 July 2022. This shift follows and builds on the experiences of other health services that have prioritised eReferrals for their specialist clinics.

As we make these changes, we will be supporting those GPs and specialists not currently using eReferrals.

To find out more about HealthLink eReferrals, visit the GP eReferrals page on our website. 

Admission and clearance of symptomatic patients  

As we head into the winter months, we need to prepare for an increase in symptomatic patients presenting with COVID-19, Influenza, and other respiratory viruses. 

With this in mind, we have revised our current admission and clearance processes to allow our clinical teams to safely treat symptomatic patients and move them from our emergency departments to our wards. 

You can read more about admitting symptomatic patients and download an updated inpatient admission flowchart here. 

Accreditation is approaching 

We are now nine weeks out from our National Standards accreditation assessment, scheduled for Monday 15 August to Friday 19 August 2022. 

With our accreditation assessment fast approaching, please ensure you are up to date with your mandatory and targeted training and that you have had (or have booked a convenient time for) your Give Me Five or Annual Performance conversation.  

For more information, resources, and tools to get Accreditation-ready, keep an eye out for our Accreditation Bulletin emails and regularly visit our employee Accreditation website.  

Flu vaccination 

All Monash Health employees are required to get vaccinated for Influenza – this ensures we reduce the spread in the hospital system as well as the community.  

Flu vaccinations are available now without bookings – just bring your Employee ID and Medicare card to: 

• Clayton – Clinic D | Monday – Friday, 8am – 4.00pm 
• Casey – Ward D meeting room | Monday – Friday, 8am, – 4:30pm 
• Dandenong – Vaccination room (Level 1, North Block) | Monday – Friday, 8am, – 4:30pm 
• Moorabbin – Infection Prevention office | Tuesdays, Wednesday and Thursdays, 11am – 12pm 
• Kingston – Infection Prevention office | Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays, 12.30pm – 1.30pm

Thank you, as always, for the work that you do.  

Andrew Stripp 
Chief Executive