NSLHD News December 18

NSLHD News December 18

NEWS NORTHERN SYDNEY LOCAL HEALTH DISTRICT NSLHD

manly youth hospice design unveiled The Manly Adolescent and Young Adult Hospice is a step closer to reality.

Read more on Page 3

exceptionAL people awards 2020 Page 14-15

hornsby hospital going hi-tech Page 5

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message FROM the Chief executive Deb Willcox

The end of the year is almost here, and what a year it has been! 2020 will be in the history books; the bushfires started in late 2019 and continued to ravage the state well into 2020 and then, of course, it was followed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet, not only have we have managed to make it through these past 12 months, we have also excelled as a local health district. As I have said many times this year, I could not be prouder of the teams of people who work here and the way in which everyone came together to respond to these events which were on a scale rarely experienced. You only need to read this edition of the newsletter to see how amazing our staff are as we celebrate the winners from the Exceptional People Awards. From the emergency department staff at Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital who sprang into action when faced with their own COVID scare, to the COVID care teams who supported our staff, there are so many people who have displayed our CORE values this year. Then we have our nurses and midwives who were recently acknowledged at the NSW Nursing and Midwifery Awards. A big congratulations to Jaime Shields of RNSH and the Severe Injury Burns Unit at RNSH who were finalists. Many of our hospitals have recently celebrated the long service of hundreds of staff who have been working in public health for 10 or more years at the annual Time in Service ceremonies.

Every one of us had a role to play in the country’s response to COVID and next year proves to be just as important as we focus on the roll out of the much- anticipated vaccine. Rest assured, our district is already making plans to be ready to protect our staff, patients and our community. At the end of such a monumental year, it is important over the festive season that we all take some time to rest and recharge the batteries. Spend some time on your own wellbeing, enjoy the outdoors and the opportunity to be with family and friends. I know however, many of you will be working through. I hope you can find some time to treat yourself and to be with the people you care about most. For those lucky enough to be travelling around NSW or interstate, safe travels on our roads and remember to still remain vigilant with social distancing and the current COVID-19 restrictions. “Thank you” does not fully capture the level of gratitude I feel, nor the admiration I hold for each of you – you have provided exceptional care in the most difficult of times. I think together we should feel very proud of what we have achieved and our contribution to the nation’s efforts in dealing with this pandemic. I wish each of you a happy and safe festive season and look forward to working alongside you in 2021. Deb Willcox Chief Executive Northern Sydney Local Health District

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Artist impression of the Manly Adolescent and Young Adult Hospice

Design unveiled for Manly Youth Hospice In an exciting development, the Manly Adolescent and Young Adult Hospice is a step closer to reality with the unveiling of the artist impressions of the facility at the old Manly Hospital site.

Adult Hospice has been designed with privacy, respite and recreation at its core. “The community’s support has been essential to this project and there will be opportunities for the community to contribute to the project in the coming months,” he said. “The facility will work closely with Bear Cottage, Manly’s renowned children’s hospice that is also unique to NSW, to assist families caring for young people as they become adults.” The Manly Adolescent and Young Adult Hospice will feature: • Eight bedrooms for patients, each with an ensuite and outdoor balcony • Carers lounges adjacent to four of the bedrooms • Two family accommodation units with two bedrooms each • On-site dedicated kitchen and dining room and laundry facilities • Lounge room (with an outdoor balcony and harbour views), games room, media room, multisensory room and quiet rooms • Telehealth consultation spaces and technology Planning is well underway, and the hospice is due to be completed in 2022.

On 30 November Deputy Premier John Barilaro, Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Member for Manly James Griffin visited the site where the unique youth hospice will be built. “The hospice will be surrounded by bushland and overlooking Sydney Harbour, providing a peaceful setting for young people and their families during extremely difficult times,” Mr Barilaro said. “The centre will provide teenagers and young adults with short-term respite care and specialised palliative care, as well as bereavement support and counselling for their families, seven days a week.” Mr Hazzard said the hospice for 15 to 24-year-old patients will support families across NSW during the most challenging of circumstances. “As these young people and their families face the unimaginable, providing appropriate end-of-life care is so important for their physical and emotional wellbeing,” Mr Hazzard said. Member for Manly James Griffin said the $19.5 million Manly Adolescent and Young

SPREAD THE GOOD NEWS Share your news and achievements. Contact our team on 9463 1722 or email NSLHD-media@ health.nsw.gov.au to submit your news.

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Sketches of the proposed Ryde Hospital at the Macquarie University campus

new location proposed for ryde hospital A proposal to build the new $479 million Ryde Hospital on Macquarie University campus to create a health and academic precinct is under consideration by the NSW Government.

Government accept the proposal, the new hospital and the former hospital site would remain in public hands.” The proposed site for the hospital is only six kilometres from its current location, and the existing hospital buildings would be kept for health and wellbeing services. Chief Executive Deb Willcox welcomed the proposal but assures staff and the community that no decision has been made. “Extensive consultation will be undertaken with staff, members of the Ryde community and the university,” she said. “Under the proposal the much-loved Ryde Hospital buildings such as Graythwaite Rehabilitation Centre and the heritage listed Denistone House would remain in public ownership for health and wellbeing services for the local community.”

medication safety month This year Medication Safety Month was celebrated with a virtual project poster display. Fourteen project posters were submitted from all facilities across the district to celebrate medication safety. Medication Safety Improvement Facilitator Daniel Searle said there was a range of fascinating projects submitted however there was a clear standout. “Reconciling High Dose Antipsychotics in the RNSH Mental Health Inpatient Unit has won both the People’s Choice Award and the Chief Executive’s Choice Award,” he said. “This group identified a problem with the over prescription of high-dose antipsychotics within their patient cohort. “They have successfully implemented changes to reduce the number Health Minister Brad Hazzard said under the proposal, which has been welcomed by Ryde MP Victor Dominello, the new site would add no cost to the project. “The NSW Government announced close to half a billion dollars to redevelop Ryde Hospital on its existing site but this idea certainly elevates our plans for the delivery of 21st century cutting edge healthcare for patients,” he said. “Co-locating the hospital with a world- class university to create a health and education hub, would bring new opportunites for research in addition to training and education. “The current hospital is more than 80 years old but should the NSW

Congratulations to Dr Kate Lindsay, Hannah Bell, Brianne Wynen, David Archer and the RNSH Mental Health Inpatient Unit

of patients prescribed high dose antipsychotics by almost half and they have also been able to successfully document the rational in every patient requiring high dose antipsychotics.”

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Health Minister Brad Hazzard touring Hornsby’s new pharmacy department

Hornsby’s pharmacy goes robotic Hornsby has become the first public hospital in the state to use robotics in its pharmacy department.

the disruption of attending hospital for lengthy treatments three times a week. As the service grew it moved first to a larger premises in Darling Point and then more recently to the Community Health Centre at Royal North Shore Hospital. Today patients who undertake the treatment option of home dialysis attend a six to eight week training course before they transfer to self-managed care at home. They are supported by a dedicated team of medical, nursing, technical and support staff. The Sydney Dialysis Centre is still one of the largest home haemodialysis services in Australia. The new departments have opened in the clinical services building. “The $265 million Hornsby Ku-ring- gai Hospital Stage 2 redevelopment will provide a superior experience for patients, carers, staff and visitors, with a larger emergency department and an ICU about three times the size of the previous one,” Mr Hazzard said. “The new, state-of-the-art pharmacy is also more than double in size and, thanks to its advanced robotics, can select and dispense medications and conduct stocktakes faster, reducing errors and wastage and allowing pharmacists to spend more time with patients.” The remaining departments will open early next year, followed by the expansion of the emergency department.

The new robotic dispensing arm was on show as the Health Minister Brad Hazzard and Member for Hornsby Matt Kean toured the new department. The pharmacy department boasts a ROWA dispensing system, which can automatically stocktake, fulfil bulk dispensing and ensure stock rotation to reduce wastage. The impressive machine allows for pharmacists to spend more time conducting research, projects and be present on wards speaking with patients and family about medications. Mr Hazzard also visited the newly opened intensive care unit (ICU) which is now double the size of its previous department in the original hospital’s Florence Nightingale wing.

SYDNEY DIALYSIS CENTRE CELEBRATES 50 YEARS Sydney Dialysis Centre recently celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Established in 1970, this service was the first home haemodialysis training centre in Australia. Revolutionary for its time, the centre aimed to prepare and support patients with end stage renal disease to manage their own dialysis treatments at home. Patients attending the centre, first located at St Luke’s Hospital, were taught to prepare and operate the equipment, access their own blood supply and manage home emergency situations such as power and water outages. This innovative treatment option meant patients could incorporate their dialysis treatment into every-day life without

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new project to detect cancer earlier Congratulations to Kolling cancer researcher and Sydney diagnosis and treatment of a range of cancers.”

Vital fellow Dr Yaser Hadi Gholami on being awarded the prestigious 2020 Physics Grand Challenges grant. The Grand Challenges project was initiated by The University of Sydney’s School of Physics to drive new discoveries and breakthroughs that will transform the world. The $250,000 grant will be directed to Yaser’s innovative research which aims to significantly improve diagnostic techniques for cancer. Yaser is thrilled to have “This has been my dream since I started studying physics. I strongly believe this will be the first step towards establishing the field of quantum medicine in the diagnosis of cancer,” he said. “Our project will involve fundamental work which I believe will support generations to come in the received the large, competitive grant.

Clinicians currently use MRI or PET scans to detect cancer, but the imaging devices can only detect the cancer at a certain size. There are also some limits with existing blood, urine and tissue testing. “Our approach will mean that we can detect cancer at a very early stage, and in many cases, before the cancer has had the chance to spread to other parts of the body. This will be a real game changer,” he said. “Our technique will be able to detect malignant cells with quantum specificity, meaning that we can detect even a very small number of cancer cells in a liquid biopsy or nano-scale metastases in a solid biopsy sample. “Importantly, this will be a large-scale, collaborative project bringing doctors and physicists together to solve one of the community’s biggest health challenges. by well-known Australian authors, are beautifully written. “They view old age from various perspectives, through the lense of older men and women, their sons, daughters or grandchildren and observers.” Sue said the stories explore not only sickness and frailty but many aspects of ageing including resilience and defeat, satisfaction and regret, love, loss and laughter. “They present a picture of what it is to grow old as

Dr Yaser Hadi Gholami

“My multidisciplinary physics team, including medical, nuclear, particle and quantum physicists from the University of Sydney will be working with the nuclear medicine team at Royal North Shore Hospital, including Professor Dale Bailey, and researchers Prof Alexander Engel and Prof Mark Molloy. “We also anticipate international collaboration with colleagues at the Harvard Medical School to help translate our research into practical application.”

Multi-talented clinician takes out prestigious award Royal North Shore Hospital’s Associate Professor Sue Ogle has received recognition for her book of short stories about ageing. The head of the department of aged care published ‘A enjoy hearing fascinating life stories every day,” she said. “I also love literature and the stories in this collection, all an Australian. Each story is original, infused with acute observations and trademark Australian wry humour,” she said.

“It’s this diversity, positivity and humour that makes the book a great resource for carers, students and anyone interested in ageing.” This is the second book that Sue has published on ageing, the first was a poetry book, ‘Falling and Flying. Poems on Ageing’. Proceeds from the book and the prize will be donated to the Penney Ageing Research trust fund which supports valuable research within the Kolling Institute, led by Professor Sarah Hilmer.

Lasting Conversation. Stories on Ageing’. Sue edited the collection of stories and authored one of them. The book has just won this year’s Australasian Journal on Ageing book award, a prestigious and competitive prize. A/Professor Ogle has welcomed the award, saying the book was a labour of love. “Those of us who work with older people and their families

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PACH Recognition and Excellence Awards Primary and Community Health (PACH) staff recently celebrated their annual

Recognition and Excellence Awards - a highlight on the PACH calendar. The awards formally recognise staff achievements. Northern Sydney Local Health District Chief Executive Deb Willcox and Executive Director of Operations Elizabeth Wood attended the event and took part in the celebrations. Congratulations to all winners.

Individual Award

Transitional Aged Care Program, Compacks, Safe and Supported Home Care Program Manager, Sarah Hobson exemplifies patient centred care by always doing everything within her capacity to facilitate the best outcomes.

Team Award

Northern Sydney home nursing service wound team, Louise Powley and Brian Tait, received the team award for their commitment to high quality expert care and pursuit of new technologies and procedures to increase positive outcomes for their patients.

Support Person Award

Julie Relton, from child youth and family health speech pathology, was recognised for her skill, care and enthusiasm supporting families to access speech pathology services.

Diversity Award

Consumer Award

Clinic 16 was awarded for their model of care for the trans and gender diverse community of NSLHD wanting to access gender affirming care.

Irena Liddell was awarded for her wealth of knowledge and valuable support of the transitional aged care program.

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Honouring our long serving staff across the LHD For decades they have called Northern Sydney Local Health District home and staff have been honoured for their valuable service at ceremonies across the sites recently. Staff collected pins and certificates for 10, 15, 20, 25, 30+ years of service in recognition of their loyalty and dedication. Below is a snapshot of some of the staff honoured.

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Silver screen success for NSLHD Clinicians Professor Sue Kurrle and Nicola Kertanegara are more accustomed to winning praise for their work in the treatment room rather than the green room, but after their recent Emmy Award, that may change. The pair, who both work within Northern Sydney Local Health District, were expert clinicians and commentators on the ABC series Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds which recently won the International Emmy Award for Non-scripted Entertainment. Sue, who holds title of Clinical Director for Rehab and Aged Care for the district, said the win came as a bit of a surprise. “I don’t think being in an Emmy awarded TV series was ever on my to-do list,” she said. “When we were filming I enjoyed watching the interactions between the children and the older participants but none of us thought that the outcome for everyone would be so good with the older people improving their mood and their strength and their mobility. “And even after seeing the final version I thought it was a great show, but never dreamed it would get this sort of international recognition.” She believes the reason for the win was simple. “It brings the importance of family back into people’s awareness, and that is often missing in today’s rather crazy world,” she said. “We all want to get old but we are not keen on the process. This series showed that it can be fun, and you can enjoy life even with some disability. We know it made a difference to the

participants and the benefits continue.”

Senior Aged Care Physiotherapist Nicola was equally as delighted to see the show recognised on the big stage. “It is such a heart-warming positive and uplifting show that really shines a light on what positive changes could be possible in aged care to make it a more positive experience for all ages,” she said. “I feel so lucky to have been a part of this process.” Nicola said the show has even led to her expect more from her patients after previous participants showed us just what is possible. “I learnt that I can expect more from my patients and that I can push them way more than I ever thought,” she said. “When the producers told me they wanted to take nursing home residents to the beach I told them there was no way! I expected everyone to fall, to be too exhausted, to be unable to participate but the reality was they all managed fine and did much better than I would have ever expected. “After such success in the first series I would only wish this success on every older Australian and hope that this type of model could be incorporated more broadly in our communities.” Both Sue and Nicola are currently involved in filming season two of Old People’s Home for 4 Year Olds.

Professor Sue Kurrle

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(Left to right) Melanie Berbakov and Sunita Oberholzer

From the main cabin to the main arena There is about 35,000 feet between the average plane and Royal North Shore

“But this is nicer because I get to sleep in my own bed every night.” The role includes such tasks as welcoming, way-finding, providing regular communication, comfort and assistance as required. Sunita said she already felt like one of the team, even if there were a few more staff than she was used to. “I feel like we’re making a difference” Sunita said. “We’re getting to know everyone; every time I look up there’s a new face there but everyone has been supportive and helpful. Melanie said it was inspiring to see the clinicians working up close having had some medical episodes on board during her time in the air. “This role has given me a greater appreciation of medical professionals but it’s also been a learning role – we’ve learnt so much just being here for a few weeks,” she said. “When you work in this type of environment, people are quite grounded. They’re used to working hard and long hours; we can relate to that.”

Hospital’s emergency, but for the department’s new patient experience officers there are a lot of similarities between their old jobs and their new one. Former flight attendants Sunita Oberholzer and Melanie Berbakov have joined the close- knit ED team after the COVID-19 pandemic grounded planes. They think they have found the perfect fit as patient experience officers, a non-clinical role that aims to maintain and improve the experience of patients and families within the ED, and like their former role, it comes complete with the uniform. “I feel like I’m at home with the role,” Melanie said. “The two roles do cross over a lot; keeping your eye on everything, helping people, managing people – I’m used to doing that.” “As soon as the patient walks through that door, the patient sees us and we become the go-to – like being on a plane,” Sunita said. “The role spoke about caring for people, being empathetic and I thought that translated so well from what I was doing before. Denistone house restored The major restoration of the 146-year-old Denistone House is now complete. The restoration project involved replacing deteriorated, and rectifying damaged, sandstone blocks, and improving ventilation to prevent further damage to the sandstone. Before joining the campus in 1934 Denistone House was a privately-owned mansion. For more than 50 years it was used as a maternity ward before becoming a space for allied health services.

Denistone House has undergone a major restoration

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(Left to right) Esther Ng, Alanna Brown, Deb Stewart, Philippa Wilford and Sharon Fok

iMPROVING GRAYTHWAITE OUTCOMES Rehabilitation is a vital aspect in the recovery process after illness or injury. A service

impacted our planned schedule in particular ceasing working parties and meeting schedules by approximately three months. We faced challenges in project progression and operational changes such as our two rehabilitation wards merging. However combining two wards made changes easier to implement and reduced process variation. It was challenging at times balancing our clinical roles with project and university coursework, but the opportunity to make meaningful change was highly motivating. Have you achieved what you set out to? We have improved patient experience by 14 per cent on the patient-reported experience measure, reduced average length of stay for reconditioning patients from 19 days to 13 days, and improved patient functional outcomes by 18 per cent. The redesign methodology taught us to investigate thoroughly, better understand the problems and generate solutions that matter to GRC staff and patients. Strong sponsorship was also key for the project. Being user-driven and involving all GRC staff and patients from the beginning has facilitated the change process and sustainability. What feedback have you been receiving from patients? A patient reported experience measure shows there has been a 14 per cent improvement in patient experience to 91 per cent. We anticipate the welcome video will further improve this especially for our CALD patients. If you would like to find out more contact: [email protected].

review in 2019 highlighted patients admitted to Ryde Hospital’s Graythwaite Rehabilitation Centre (GRC) were staying longer and functional outcomes were less than those in comparable services within NSLHD. A multidisciplinary team from the hospital has been working hard to reverse this. Nurse Unit Manager GRC Alanna Brown, Senior Rehabilitation Physiotherapist GRC Sharon Fok, Nurse Manager Performance and Access Esther Ng and Acting Team Lead Occupational Therapist GRC Philippa Wilford recently completed the Graduate Certificate in Clinical Redesign with their project focused on improving GRC outcomes (iGO). We sat down with the team to find out about their project and experience. Tell us about your project. The aim was to improve the outcomes and experience for inpatients at GRC. We were able to bring four innovative initiatives to life. We focused on standardising processes like generating estimated discharge dates by using a benchmark calculator, as well as incorporating a discharge decision making tool in case conferences. We also created a GRC team-wide orientation resource and education program with a focus on reflective practice. Our project enabled the GRC team to win a $45,500 innovation grant to produce a patient welcome video in multiple languages. What worked well and what did not work so well? The COVID-19 pandemic significantly

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Every week counts in the lead up to birth The Kolling Institute’s Women and Babies Research team is calling for a reduction in the number of early births, with the latest research highlighting the benefits of

dignity campaign success Northern Sydney Local Health District is celebrating another successful Christmas with Dignity campaign this holiday season. All items donated by staff have helped homelessness and crisis support charity Dignity put together hundreds of Christmas hampers for some of the most vulnerable people in the community. Collectively NSLHD was able to donate two full vans worth of items comprising of non-perishable food, women’s, men’s and children’s clothing, various toys and presents. The hampers will be donated to people in the community experiencing homelessness during the festive season. Dignity Volunteer and Donations Coordinator Sherin Fishwick said: “There was absolutely no way Dignity would have been able to pull off their Christmas with Dignity campaign this year if it “For every week that a baby is born earlier than 39 weeks, there is a small but significant increase in the risk of the child performing less well in school assessments. “Our research indicates that for every week a baby can remain safely inside birthing as close to 40 weeks as possible. Twenty years ago, the majority of women gave birth at 40 weeks. Today it’s between 38 and 39 weeks and continuing to get earlier. This trend is due to the growing number of planned early births at 36, 37 and 38 weeks, either by induction of labour or by planned caesarean section prior to the onset of labour. Women and Babies Research Director Professor Jonathan Morris said we now have increasing evidence around the benefits to babies when they’re born as close to 40 weeks as possible. “There’s very important development in the last few weeks of pregnancy,” he said. “A baby’s brain for instance increases in weight by 50 per cent in the last four-to- five weeks of pregnancy.

their mother’s womb, their short and long-term health and developmental outcomes improve.” Jonathan acknowledges the circumstances around each birth need to be considered. “Any benefits of prolonging pregnancy need balancing against the small risk of stillbirth which increases with gestational age from two per 10,000 ongoing pregnancies at 35 weeks of gestation up to seven per 10,000 ongoing pregnancies at 40 weeks of gestation. “With new research >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16

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