Chief Executive Update: 16 March 2022

Chief Executive Update – 16 March 2022

As of today, we have: 

• 33 COVID-19 positive inpatients
• 135 employees with COVID-19
• 67 employees in precautionary quarantine
• 75 employees who are primary close contacts and working under public health exemption

In this update, we cover: 

• Keeping an eye on the numbers
• A careful recommissioning of inpatient services at Moorabbin Hospital
• Thank you takes many different forms
• National Close the Gap Day and extension of Aboriginal Health Liaison Officer service
• Keeping up to date with COVID-19
• Donation options for Australian flood victims and Ukraine crisis
• Building the resilience of an Olympian – come and find out the tips from two of Australia’s winter Olympic athletes
• Employee drive-through dental clinic this weekend – book now
• NAMAS nomination deadline extended to Sunday 20 March 2022
• Updates to employee surveillance testing requirements
• Gatherings in the workplace
• Voting closes today on the Health and Allied Services, Manager and Administrative Workers (Victorian Public Sector) (Single Interest Employers) Enterprise Agreement 2021-2025
• Thank you to our social workers
• Patients are being invited to make a grateful gift to say thank you
• Breast Cancer Nurse, Katie Evans, takes out STAR award for Exceptional Teamwork
• Access to the Healthy Body and Mind Hub

Keeping an eye on the numbers

We continue to keep a watchful eye on the numbers coming through and the trends being led by the emergence of the Omicron BA.2 variant. The transmissibility of this variant is one of the things factoring into our decision making as we steadily resume services.

While we don’t expect to see a rapid rise in hospitalisations, it is important to consider the potential impacts of the BA.2 variant on our patients, visitors and employee availability as we plan across the months leading into Winter.

As always, our priority is safety and staying up to date with our PPE and practices, following the public health measures and guidance which has kept us safe throughout this pandemic.

For the latest on the COVID-19 state of play internally, surveillance testing updates and gatherings in the workplace, please see the details in the key messages of this update.

And if you would like to know more about how we will resume clinical services, see yesterday’s employee forum presentation from Chief Operating Officer, Martin Keogh, as he outlines the plans for the coming weeks.

A careful recommissioning of inpatient services at Moorabbin Hospital

From Monday 21 March 2022, we will begin a careful and phased recommissioning of theatre and inpatient services at Moorabbin Hospital.

Additional services at Moorabbin will return progressively over the weeks and months ahead and be managed with patient and employee safety as the number one priority.

Thank you to the teams at Moorabbin for pulling together and supporting our patients, families, and each other throughout an ever-changing landscape.

Thank you takes many different forms

It’s not often we can say ‘have a free coffee on us’, but I am pleased to announce that for next week – from Monday 21 March to Sunday 27 March 2022 – we are providing employees with a free small hot beverage or bottled water each day via our on-site cafés, with arrangements also being made at some of our community sites. Look out for details in your email later this week, and on signage at your site.

This is one of the initiatives we are putting in place to go some small way to saying thank you. You truly are the heart of all we do at Monash Health and, for that, we say thank you.

Whether in a clinical or a clinical support role, on-site or remotely, you have continued to support the healthcare goals of our community and the entire state. We are incredibly proud of your professionalism and resilience.

We will continue to prioritise your health and wellbeing, whether that be through the expansion of our Be Well Program, half-price gym memberships, dental screening, access to a range of digital wellbeing platforms and programs, or our monthly wellbeing forums. The free coffees and waters are another way to say thank you. Stay tuned over the weeks and months ahead as we continue to provide additional practical support.

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

Andrew Stripp
Chief Executive

Key Messages

National Close the Gap Day

National Close the Gap Day is this Thursday, 17 March. A day that raises awareness of the gap in health and life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the non-indigenous community, with the ultimate goal of achieving health equality.

At Monash Health, we are dedicated to inclusive and equitable healthcare for all. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience poorer health outcomes and life expectancy than non-indigenous Australians. At Monash Health we are positioned to make a difference due to our extensive geographical reach and the high number of patients we see yearly.

You can come and have a yarn with some of the Aboriginal Health team on Close the Gap Day (Thursday, 17 March). The team is setting up a stall from 9:30am – 3:30pm in the front foyer of Monash Medical Centre (near the gift shop and café), to promote their services and answer any questions you might have.

Extension of Aboriginal Health Liaison Officer service

Monash Health has extended the Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Officer (AHLO) service, which now runs seven days a week, from 8am – 4:30pm.

Our Aboriginal Hospital Liaison Officers provide cultural, emotional and spiritual support to patients and families; participation in family meetings and care planning; patient advocacy; referrals to other culturally appropriate services; and support with discharge planning and linking to community services.

You can contact an AHLO seven days a week by:

• Phone: 9792 7948
• Email: aboriginalhealth@monashhealth.org

Please note that the Aboriginal Health team no longer have pagers, and that the weekend AHLO is based at Clayton only (but available for phone support at all sites).

Keeping up to date with COVID-19

The past two years have been marked by constant change. To help you stay across the current state of play with COVID-19 precautions, we’ve put together a Current COVID-19 Guidance Summary.

The factsheet is available on the COVID-19 website and brings together the latest guidance around public health measures, testing, isolation, PPE and ways of working.

Donation options for Australian flood victims and Ukraine crisis

The devastating floods in southeast Queensland and much of New South Wales, and the effects of the war in Ukraine, have left many of us wanting to help and show our support.

We appreciate that many of our employees will be affected directly through having family and friends impacted by these events or indirectly as concerned citizens.

It is natural to wish to alleviate the suffering we see daily in the media and support our fellow Australians and the Ukrainian people. If you wish to donate, there are organisations with appeals to support those in need, and you can find their details here.

Building the resilience of an Olympian – join the wellbeing forum this Thursday

Join Olympians Steph Prem and Dean Hewitt in conversation at our Employee Health and Wellbeing Forum, 2pm on Thursday 17 March.

Steph and Dean will talk about building the resilience it takes to be an Olympic athlete and how they used that resilience to overcome disappointment, adversity and injury. They both have powerful stories to tell, and you’ll have a chance to ask them a question about their journeys.

Employee drive-through dental clinic this weekend – book now

To mark World Oral Health Day, Monash Health Dental Services is running an employee drive-through dental clinic on Saturday 19 March 2022. 

The clinic will be free for employees to attend, with bookings now open until 3pm, Friday 18 March. The clinic will be located at the Monash University COVID-19 screening clinic, 133 Wellington Road Clayton, and will operate from 9am to 1pm on the day.

Utilising the COVID-19 screening model, the clinic will offer employees dental screening to assess their oral health from the convenience of their car. Following this assessment, employees will be provided with oral health advice and advised if any treatment is needed, as no treatment will be performed on the day. Find out more and make your booking online.

NAMAS nomination deadline extended to 20 March 2022

As we continue our careful reopening, it is heartening to see some of the regular events come back to life, and one of these is the Nursing and Midwifery Awards and Scholarships.

This is an important way to acknowledge the achievements of some of our outstanding nurses and midwives, for their commitment and initiative over the last year. The deadline for nominations and applications has been extended to this Sunday, 20 March, and we encourage you to nominate those you have seen go above and beyond in the care of our patients and colleagues.

Nominations are made via the STAR portal. Find out how you can nominate one of your colleagues.

Updates to employee surveillance testing requirements

We have made updates to our surveillance testing requirements, to align our practice with the latest State Guidance.  Surveillance testing is a regular program of employee testing for COVID-19 to help prevent outbreaks. It applies in certain situations and work environments.

Surveillance testing is compulsory for:

• Asymptomatic close contacts returning to work under the exemption to quarantine requirements for healthcare workers.
• Asymptomatic employees following a COVID-19 exposure at work (if advised by Infection Prevention).

And available on a voluntary basis to:

• All employees in ICUs and EDs without COVID-19 symptoms.
• All employees working in community settings where increased transmission is present.
• All employees after caring for COVID-19 positive patients.
• All employees in COVID-19 streaming areas (where care of COVID-19 patients occur) across other health services.

Read more about the types and frequency of testing.

Gatherings in the workplace

Face-to-face meetings and handovers – Face-to-face meetings and handovers may occur where required, including ‘all hands’ team meetings. However, given the ongoing prevalence of COVID-19 infection in the community, we encourage you to continue to think about different ways you can accomplish the same outcome without calling a group together; email, teleconference, video conference.

Please ensure that a record of meeting attendance is kept to support contact tracing if needed.

Sharing food – Due to the high-risk nature of the healthcare environment, it is important that there is no food sharing. No plates of communal food should be placed within any environment, regardless of sharing mechanisms (tongs etc).

Social gatherings outside of work – Social gatherings outside of work are subject to the same COVIDSafe settings as the general public.

As Health Care Workers, we play a critical role in caring for the community, and keeping ourselves healthy is important. With this in mind, we encourage you to apply your knowledge of infection prevention outside of work, and keep yourself as safe as possible.

Voting closes today on the Health and Allied Services, Manager and Administrative Workers (Victorian Public Sector) (Single Interest Employers) Enterprise Agreement 2021-2025

Voting on the Health and Allied Services, Manager and Administrative Workers (Victorian Public Sector) (Single Interest Employers) Enterprise Agreement 2021-2025 (Proposed Agreement) closes at 5:00pm today.

If you are employed under this agreement, you can access the voting form here, or read more information on the People and Culture Intranet site, including FAQs and a recording of our recent Employee session.

Thank you to our social workers

Monash Health boasts over 300 incredible social workers across many programs, including mental health, community and inpatient services, women’s, newborns and children’s services, specialist medicine, chronic and critical care and palliative care.

Yesterday (15 March) marked World Social Work Day, an opportunity to recognise and thank our social workers who have played a key role in the pandemic, working alongside affected people to ensure their needs are met in a holistic way, and their human rights are upheld. Reach out and thank a Social Worker today.

Patients invited to make a grateful gift to say thank you

Monash Health is inviting patients and their loved ones to thank their healthcare team for the care received, through a grateful donation.

In a program run by the Monash Health Foundation, patients can support Monash Health’s highest priority projects at the same time as thanking their Monash Health team for the care provided.

Breast Cancer Nurse, Katie Evans, takes out STAR award for Exceptional Teamwork

McGrath Breast Cancer Nurse at Dandenong and Casey Hospital, Katie Evans, has been recognised with a STAR Award for her Exceptional Teamwork.

Recently, Katie stepped into the role of Acting Nurse Manager for the Breast Services Team, while the department underwent a challenging change process. Katie has been recognised by her team for her proactive leadership, positive attitude and commitment to training and development while in this role.

Access to the Healthy Body and Mind Hub

For the next 12 months, all Monash Health employees now have access to the Healthy Body and Mind Hub, a new fitness and wellbeing resource online, helping you reach your health and wellness goals by giving you access to education, motivation and encouragement.

Read more about how you can access this platform.