Are you working over the festive season? Firstly, thank you. It is important that we continue to provide excellent care for our community at all times.
As is normal for this time of year, there will be a reduction of some of our services and the services of our providers. We’ve included links below to all operational festive season activities to guide you through the holiday season.
Holiday Season Operational Plan
From 18 December 2023 to 7 January 2024, we have reduced clinical activity.
As always, we have aimed to strike a balance between maintaining appropriate clinical services, while also ensuring that where possible, our employees can take some well-deserved time off after another busy year.
You can view the plan to know what level of services are available during this time.
Procurement ordering
Please use this holiday period ordering guide to order your Stock and Non-Stock items and enable ongoing supply to your Ward or Team over the upcoming festive season.
We have updated our visiting guidelines
We have updated our Visiting at Monash Health Clinical Guidelines, which came into effect on Wednesday 13 December.
These changes recognise the important role that visitors play in the wellbeing of our patients. It also balances the need to provide a quiet and restful space that supports patient recovery and keeps our people, patients and community as safe as possible.
Café hours
Some of our site cafes will have reduced hours over the festive season. See the table below for all café operating hours.
| Site | Café | Normal Hours | Reduced Hours | Resume Normal Hours |
| Monash Medical Centre | Henry & Co | 7 Days
6.00am to 8.00pm |
7 Days
7.00am to 7.00pm |
29 Jan 2024 |
| Monash Medical Centre | Little Henry | Monday to Friday
6.00am to 5.00pm |
Closed
22 Dec 2023 until 28 Jan 2024 |
29 Jan 2024 |
| Monash Medical Centre | Zuppa | 7 Days
6.00am to 8.00pm |
Christmas Eve
7.00am to 4pm Closed 25 Dec 2023 |
26 Dec 2023 |
| Monash Children’s Hospital | Henry & Co (Pop Up) | Daily
6.00am – 5.00pm |
No change | |
| Victorian Heart Hospital | Sunny Lane Café | Monday to Friday
7.00am to 5.00pm Weekends 8.00am to 3pm |
Closed
23 Dec 2023 until 1 Jan 2024 |
02 Jan 2024 |
| Dandenong Hospital | Henry & Co Café & Kiosk | Daily
6.00am to 8.00pm |
Daily
6.00am to 7.00pm |
29 Jan 2024 |
| Kingston Centre | Calvino Coffee | Monday to Friday
6.30am to 3.30pm Saturday 8.00am to 12.00pm |
Closed
24 Dec 2023 to 1 Jan 2024 |
02 Jan 2024 |
| Moorabbin Hospital | Calvino Coffee | Monday to Friday
6.30am to 3.30pm Saturday 8.00am to 12.00pm |
Closed
24 Dec 2023 to 1 Jan 2024 |
02 Jan 2024 |
Recruitment advertising over the Christmas and New Year Period
Over the Christmas and New Year period, we frequently see a reduction in the quality and quantity of applications to our advertised vacancies. It is also the downtime for some recruitment services and platforms.
See here for a guide to recruiting over the festive season.
Changes to public holiday rostering requirements
Following a decision by the Federal Court earlier this year, managers must now request employees to work on a public holiday. This change is effective for Monash Health employees immediately.
Understand what you need to know as a manager or employee when rostering or working over public holidays (including on-call rosters).
Public Holiday entitlements matrix for 2024
The Public Holiday entitlements matrix for 2024 is now available on the Intranet. The matrix should be read in conjunction with the relevant Enterprise Agreements.