Far West In Focus Edition 12 - December 2012 West In Focus... · Congratulations to Helen Hayes and ... the recent presentation of long service awards to ... LHDs role in the Broken

The Far West Local Health District Newsletter Edition 12, Vol 2, Dec. 2012

Congratulations to Helen Hayes and her helpers for scooping the “Grand Champion” award as the overall winner in this year’s Christmas Pageant float competition.

Our float’s theme “Old Hospital Scene” struck a chord with the judges and Helen and her hard working helpers are to be congratulated for their efforts — it is a well-deserved accolade! Already plans are underway to make our float bigger and better for next year.

Helen Hayes accepted the Grand Champion award for this year’s Christmas Pageant Float competition presented by Mayor Wincen Cuy.

BHHS Pageant float wins top accolade!

Christmas and the end of 2012 is fast approaching. Looking back over the year I imagine for many of us it is a blur of activity with a few major events or achievements that stand out. Three things that have stood out for me were:

the informal conversations with people at Agfair

which highlighted community members were generally happy with the health service and offered some constructive advice about how we can improve;

the recent presentation of long service awards to

staff, the commitment of everyone to providing a great heath service and the goodwill this long overlooked recognition stimulated; and

the completion of the new emergency department at

Ivanhoe.

No doubt each of us will have different highlights and achievements from the last year’s work. Together, all these highlights and achievements represent the progress the LHD has made. We have come a long way since January 2011 and I’m very grateful for the enormous efforts everyone has made to maintain and improve services.

Congratulations to:

Helen Hayes and the team that re-established the

LHDs role in the Broken Hill Christmas Pageant, a performance to be challenged next year;

the Wentworth Women’s Auxiliary for their 75 year

anniversary;

the Physiotherapy Team in Broken Hill for winning

the Allied Health Christmas decoration challenge;

Hema Mulliah on her appointment o Balranald

Hospital (looking forward to lunch when I next visit);

Melissa Thomson for winning the pedometer

challenge in Tibooburra; and

Dr Stephen Flecknoe-Brown for his appointment as

the inaugural Chairman of the NSW Pathology Board.

Late breaking news is that we have a new LHD Board. Tom Hynes has been appointed Chairman. The other members of the Board are Dale Sutton, Melissa Welsh, Peter Tomlinson, William Johnstone, Dan O’Halloran, Steve O’Halloran, John Harris, Allan Carter, David Lyle, Maureen O’Donnell and Clyde Thomson.

I hope everyone has a very merry and peaceful Christmas and that the New Year holds rewards and challenges for everyone.

Rewarding year for everyone at FWLHD

By Stuart Riley, Chief Executive

Wishing everyone

a very Merry

Christmas and

Happy New Year


PAGE 2

Health Service colleagues farewelled Michele Pitt, Director of the Centre for Rural and Remote Education this month after a 36 year nursing career.

In her words, Michelle said her career as a nurse and midwife has been a privileged career. “If you have children and they say to you ‘I want to be a nurse’, then support them in their decision,” she said. “There are so many opportunities in the career of nursing, and these include working in the different fields of clinical, management or education.”

Michele’s career started at BHHS in the Preliminary Training School in 1974. She became a Registered Nurse in 1976 and Midwife in 1978. After a break from Broken Hill (during which her son Jonathon was born), Michele returned in 1985 and in 1989 was appointed NUM of Specialist Clinics. In 1997 she was appointed Area Manager of Clinical Quality Improvement for FWAHS. In 2002 she was appointed Director of Nursing and Clinical Services for FWAHS, and in 2005 was appointed Area Director of Nursing and Midwifery Services GWAHS. In 2009 to 2012 she worked as the Executive Officer and the acting Director of the Centre of Rural and Remote Education.

Michele counts her career highlights being the travel, meeting and speaking with people living in rural and remote communities, networking with other health professionals, being acknowledged and receiving awards for herself and the teams she has had the privilege of leading.

Michelle has left NSW Health after 36 years due to a restructure and said she is looking to a new chapter in her life. “I hope to find another role that is interesting and challenging that I can focus on. On a personal note I would like to thank all who have provided friendship and collegiality to me during my working career.”

We all wish Michelle the very best and thank her for her dedication and contribution to NSW Health during her nursing career.

By Nigel Carlton, General Manager BHHS

It has been 12 months since I joined the FWLHD team and what a busy time it has been. My introduction to the Broken Hill staff started with tongs in hand behind a barbecue and it is fitting that we ended 2012 in much the same fashion.

We started our 2012 journey with the Your Say survey results and a commitment to exploring the values that represent what we stand for as an organisation and the behaviours that demonstrate those values. Work has continued through the Workplace Culture Committee and Essentials of Care in refining the behaviours we expect in the workplace. Part of this process was to recognise the contributions of individuals to the FWLHD which culminated in the recent service recognition awards.

We progressed through the Australian Council of Healthcare Standards accreditation process and achieved a further four year hospital accreditation. Work continues streamlining actions and recommendations so they become a daily activity that feeds into a quality system.

An objective of mine was to ensure that I didn’t get in way of day to day business across BHHS and that the actions I take invariably improve the service. Over the year, I have endeavoured to turn requests around quickly with varying degrees of success. Timely decision making requires that decisions are made at the management level closest to the need. The process of streamlining decisions and driving them down to the appropriate level of management has been helped immeasurably by the introduction of the FWLHD Delegations Manual.

It has taken some time for managers to become comfortable with their delegations, particularly as we had to restructure budgets to align with the introduction of Activity Based Funding. Now that we are growing confident in the budget information, our focus for 2013 will be on actively managing our budgets, controlling costs and refining the budget process.

Service delivery across the BHHS continues to be well reported particularly ED and Surgical waitlist.

As an organisation, we continue to

focus on our safety and we have had 11 months of 100% completion of Departmental Inspections. Risks assessments for identified issues are being registered, reviewed and actions taken.

The Mental Health subacute facility was handed over late in November 2012 and will be run by an NGO named Neami. A formal opening is anticipated in February.

The Rehabilitation subacute unit continues to take shape and we are expecting completion in March 2013.

There are many more achievements from 2012 and I congratulate all BHHS, FWLHD and supporting partner services in Broken Hill for their efforts this year.

For those that are working over Christmas, I hope that you will have some time with your families to celebrate and I thank you for the time that you will spend with our patients over Christmas.

I encourage those not at work to enjoy the Christmas and New Year break as you deserve a well-earned rest. Stay safe and come back to BHHS with the enthusiasm to make 2013 even better.

Many achievements across BHHS during a busy year

Nursing career a privilege: Michele Pitt

Michele Pitt with a gift presented by colleagues as she bids farewell after a long and dedicated

nursing career


PAGE 3

Kiosk Auxiliary enjoy Christmas festivities

Board Chair Dr Steve Flecknoe-Brown and Board Member Tom Hynes were

glad to help out on the night.

Continued next page

By Mary Leehane — Volunteer Manager

The BH Hospital Kiosk Auxiliary enjoyed their Christmas dinner celebration on December 1 and were treated to a 3-course meal prepared and served by FWLHD staff members and their partners.

Preparations began many months prior to the actual event. Stuart Riley embraced his inner Master Chef and began planning menus and delegating the organisation of the evening to Annette Vartuli, so when the morning of 1 December dawned, a well briefed team of Stuart’s little helpers sprang into action.

Annette met the first team of staff at the West Football Club ready to work their magic and turn the club into a festive fine dining room. The “A” Team as they like to call themselves began with some light exercise of moving furniture, polishing glassware and organising space in the cool room (David Winter and John Leehane). Then the artistic members of the team took over – tables were set with the added festive touches of handmade menus and delicious Florentine Biscuits (both made by Annette), the room was adorned with flower arrangements (Jacqueline Vanderneut) and rounded off with fairy lights being strung and Christmas music chosen (Steve Burton and Sharyn Cowie).

In the kitchen Chef Stuart assisted by the lovely Jane Williams organised the preparation area and Stuart checked his list more than twice to ensure everything was in readiness, that everyone was being nice and the naughty ones were sent home. The Amuse-bouche was chilling and the Semifreddo were safely tucked up in the freezer, and the handmade Christmas puddings were safely out of the reach of those helpers willing to carry out early taste tests.

Later in the day the second team of Stuart’s little helpers (Susan Daly, Tom and Heather Hynes and Stephen Flecknoe-Brown) arrived to begin the mise en place, while Stuart ensured the pork was resting and the ducks plucked and wines chilled.

Just prior to the start of the function the rest of the team arrived (Branko and Jo Licul, Linda Sorum, Greg Mullen, Kelly Nelder and Justin Watson) adorned in aprons and ready to serve the specially chosen wines and scrumptious meal to the hard working and dedicated Kiosk Auxiliary.

Betty Sammut (President), opened proceedings and welcomed Steve Bennetts (Treasurer) and Dennis Roach (Secretary) and members of the Auxiliary. Betty drew guests attention to the scrolls on the table, which detailed the list of items gifted to the hospital by


PAGE 4

Kiosk Auxiliary enjoy Christmas festivities

ABOVE: It was a delightful table setting that greeted the Kiosk

Auxiliary members on the night

LEFT: Some of our volunteers who assisted in making the

Christmas dinner a great success

Chef Stuart Riley ensured the kitchen was running to clockwork!

Continued from previous page

the Auxiliary for the 2011/2012 period and hoped that everyone enjoyed their evening.

The expert waiting staff took orders, topped up glasses and served the entire meal to clockwork precision. The general consensus was one of admiration for Stuart and his team, for the wonderful food and hard work involved in catering for such a large group.

There was a surprise guest of a rather naughty and energetic Elf (the vivacious Lou Arnold) who had arranged games and a secret Santa and a visit from Santa (Colleen Demain), who was looking rather trim and much younger than the Santas we are used to seeing in the shopping centres.

The evening was rounded off by Betty presenting (with the help of our spirited Elf) gifts to Stuart and his team to thank them for arranging such a wonderful function.

The work that went into the Kiosk Auxiliary dinner is in small measure when compared to what the volunteers do all year to provide an essential service and fundraise for our hospital and community. We enjoyed the night and hope everyone else did as well.

Best wishes to everyone for a Merry and Safe Christmas and Happy 2013.


PAGE 5

Christmas float a top winner!

Congratulations to everyone involved in our winning entry in the BH Christmas

Pageant. It was a great effort and looked like a lot of fun. Well done to

Helen Hayes for co-ordinating the float and to all the helpers and float

participants — especially our ‘patients, doctors and nurses’ - who volunteered

on the day. Well done!

Our little helpers had fun dressing up for the Pageant: Layton Licul, Jayden Polak, Henry Hayes, Tayla Hoysted, Lauren Hoysted and

Jordan Hoysted.


PAGE 6

Events happening around Balranald MPS

A great day was had by staff at our afternoon KK party. Gifts were exchanged and we had a lovely spread of food which everyone enjoyed.

We also had a visit from the Salvation Army.

They put in two full days upgrading our garden

areas. Staff presented the

Salvation Army

with a financial

donation, toys

and gifts for

children.

The visitors

also enjoyed

morning tea

with the

residents. Balranald MPS this month welcomed new Nurse Manager Pat Croft to her role. Pat is pictured during her recent orientation to

the MPS with HSM, Annette Vaarzon Morel.

Salvos thanked for upgrading MPS garden areas

Balranald MPS have also

recently welcome new cook,

Hema Mulliah.

New chef


PAGE 7

Wilcannia staff embrace the

festive season: Dawn Evans,

Michelle Johnston and her new blow up tree,

Jess Andrews (kneeling), Glynis Thorp and Brian

Harris.

You couldn’t miss the Christmas season at Wilcannia MPS when entering the hospital’s foyer — visitors are greeted by

Santa and two fairies — much to the delight of visitors including Samantha Green and Robert Hunter (pictured below).

Staff at Wilcannia Hospital wish their colleagues in the Far West a safe and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

Festive season at Wilcannia

The Far West Local Health District Needle and Syringe Program provides clean injecting equipment for people who inject drugs in our community.

The Sexual Health Team would like to take this opportunity to thank the Day Care Centre for their continued support of this program in 2012 through their efforts in packing the equipment used by the program.

In particular Sexual Health Nurses Jane Davies and Jo Lenton thanked Mr Bob Beveridge who wraps the packs for the program each week during his attendance at the Day Care Centre.

The packs contain clean injecting equipment as well as condoms and educational material on blood borne viruses like Hepatitis C, B and HIV, and safer sex.

Jane and Jo appreciate Bob’s enthusiasm for his work and are looking forward to working with him again next year.

Jane Davies presented Bob Beveridge with a gift to say thank-you for his help with the packing of NSP packs this year.

Help to provide invaluable health program appreciated

Dareton Primary Health Centre’s Early Intervention Program, recently received a welcome boost at Wentworth and District Community Bank Grants night held at the Coomealla Club in Dareton.

We were the recipients of a $938 grant, which allowed us to purchase a much needed assessment tool, the Psychoeducational Profile-3.

This is a very positive assessment, focusing on each child’s strengths rather than their weaknesses.

The information provided allows us to identify those skills already achieved, and helps us to plan how best to develop the skills that are not quite there yet.

For some families with a child with a disability, this can be the first time they can focus on what it is their child CAN do, not what it is they cannot do.

Jayne O'Shannessy, Early Intervention Educator at Dareton Primary Health Centre (right) pictured receiving the cheque from the

Wentworth and District Community Bank representative Marie Pappin.

Grant to help focus on the positive in kids in Dareton area


PAGE 8

The OurHealth website has arrived! Health Councillors are encouraged to accesss the OurHealth website which was

formally launched as part of the Consumers Health Forum 25th Anniversary Celebrations.

A short but incisive video about OurHealth is now available and it reaches out to health consumers who may not have thought about contributing their voice to consumer advocacy, as well as demonstrating just how important it is for consumers to have a say in healthcare.

It is available via the homepage of www.ourhealth.org.au and also via YouTube. It is hoped that the website will be a valuable resource and tool for consumer networks to start, join and share consumer conversations on improving healthcare. It contains excellent resources to help consumers and their networks.

Elearning for Health Councillors is online An Elearning workshop — Guidelines for Consumer Representatives — providing consumers with an orientation to their consumer representative role is now online for all Health Councillors to access. The Consumers Health Forum of Australia has developed this resource to de-mystify committee work and provide consumers with practical advice to assist them in their role. Having access to a resource like this will mean that Health Councillors can take their own time to gather some information and skill. See link at http://ourhealth.org.au/consumer-rep-support/online-training-and-education

HSD Online Claiming update Far West and Western NSW Local Health Districts (LHDs) in partnership with the

HealthShare NSW Pharmacy Improvement Program (PIP) have been working to set the foundations for Highly Specialised Drugs (HSD) Online Claiming, a system which has been mandated for implementation by the Department of Human Services (Medicare).

Adoption of the system will ensure that hospitals continue to be subsidised for HSD prescriptions and dispensing. HSD claims are worth approximately $255 million annually in recouped funding for the NSW Public Health System, which is estimated to be worth nearly $7.9 million per year to Far West and Western NSW LHDs alone.

Training has occurred to help hospital staff prepare for the implementation of the new system in February 2013.

Pharmacies within Far West and Western NSW Local Health Districts have now upgraded their pharmaceutical information management systems to i.Pharmacy v5.6 1004, a pre-requisite for the implementation of HSD Online Claiming.

For more information about the program visit: http://intranet.hss.health.nsw.gov.au/

insidehss/operations/pharmacy_improvement

http://www.ourhealth.org.au/

http://ourhealth.org.au/consumer-rep-support/online-training-and-education




http://intranet.hss.health.nsw.gov.au/insidehss/operations/pharmacy_improvement

http://intranet.hss.health.nsw.gov.au/insidehss/operations/pharmacy_improvement


PAGE 9

Once again the Sturt 2 Ladies Bowls team have kept the spirit of giving going by donating $200 to buy a new sphygmomanometer cuff for the Dialysis Renal Unit at the Broken Hill Health Service.

The cuff allows staff to take the patient’s blood pressure manually and accurately.

The Sturt 2 Ladies Bowls team continued support follows on from last year when they donated four of the same type cuffs to the unit, purchase with their Christmas present money collected during the year.

Team member Meredith Farquhar said her team were more than happy to donate again this year as they could see how the cuffs assisted the staff and helped ensure continued high standard of care for the dialysis patients.

Nurse Anne Hook pictured testing the new cuff on

Meredith Farquhar, Sturt 2 Ladies Bowls team.

Generosity continues from Sturt 2 Ladies Bowls team

BHHS NUM Operating Theatres Susan Beahl and RN Elissa Tweedie pictured with BH

Contribution Fund Secretary Kevin Sinclair (left) and President Pat Leonard with one of the

new cystovideoscopes.

The BHHS Operating Theatre have two brand new cystovideoscopes for use in urology procedures thanks to the generosity of the Broken Hill Contribution Fund.

The scopes are collectively valued at $43,000 and replace ageing scopes previously used.

The new technology not only make it easier for the operator to determine the cause of a number of urinary problems, but also provide better educational outcomes as the procedure can be viewed on a monitor for all to see.

Many thanks to the BH Contribution Fund for once again making a generous donation which will benefit the community at large.

New scopes a welcome contribution for theatre


PAGE 10

Battle of the Decorations in Allied Health

The BHHS Allied Health staff enjoyed their annual department Christmas Decorations challenge.

After much heavy deliberation, the judge awarded the winning honours to the Physiotherapists for their Santa’s Cave. A close second was the OT's children waiting area and its multitude of Rudolphs!

Well done to everyone who participated — it looked like great fun!

(Clockwise from top) The Physios win with Santa’s Cave; The Dietitians with

their Christmas dinner setting, the OTs and

Rudophs aplenty and Allied Health reception.


PAGE 11

Approximately 30 local indigenous women joined staff from Dareton Primary Health on Tuesday 11th December to yarn about breast awareness, breast cancer and early detection. The event was held after Dareton’s Women’s Health Nurse, Anita Erlandsen, was successful in obtaining funding from Cancer Australia to hold a local workshop.

The Well Women’s Workshops were developed by the National Breast and

Ovarian Cancer Network in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and combine presentations from health professionals with real life stories from indigenous women who have had first-hand experience with breast cancer. The interactive workshop was held in the tranquil surrounds of the Australian Inland Botanic Gardens and the women had the opportunity to talk to nurses and health workers.

Local Barkindji Elder, Cora Lawson, officially opened the event with attendees at the day ranging from women in their teens through to those in their 70s.

After the formal part of the day the

women contributed to a large canvas to

commemorate the day, with the theme

being around breast and general health

and what being a healthy woman means to

them.

Our Canvas – “Don’t be shame – be game! Get a mammogram”

and “Healthy mums have happy families” were two of the themes

that came out of the day. Some of the participants at the workshop.

Well Women’s workshop at Dareton Primary Health

The high achievers were Susan Taylor, Greg Pascoe, Graeme Hurley, Heidi Drenkhahn (Organiser), Morgan Morris, Amanda Berryman. Absent: Denis McCallum.

The annual BHHS staff Health Challenge run by the Dietetics Department was once again a success with many taking the opportunity to improve their health and fitness.

Participants and their colleagues celebrated their success with a healthy morning tea.

High achievers were presented with their prizes by Community Dietitian Heidi Drenkhahn.

“I’m very proud of this year’s participants and hope all staff could be motivated by the healthy lifestyle changes they are modelling.”

The Challenge was a 10-week program aimed at instilling healthy diet and lifestyle habits that can be maintained forever. It encourages staff to make small, slow changes and improvements rather than drastic measures. This makes it easier to stick to in the long run and ensures any weight loss will stay off rather than returning (with interest) as often happens with fad diets.

Health challengers win

2012 Immunisation Conference

“Going for Gold” There is a small but vitally important contingent of RNs working

in our hospitals and communities to keep us and our Far West population healthy. They are dedicated to preventing infectious diseases that would overwhelm our already stretched health facilities. They are, of course, Accredited RN Immunisers.

Population Health Immunisation Services has recently conducted the annual Nurse Provider update across the Far West LHD. Twenty–four nurses attended the Broken Hill update, and 14 nurses attended the recent immunisation update in Dareton.

The topics on the day covered statistics, vaccine changes and vaccine preventable disease reviews and vaccine catch-up reviews.

Annual Immunisation Conference attendance is a mandated component of an RN’s accreditation. Without this they may lose their accreditation and without them we’d all be a lot sicker and busier. So next time you see a ‘needle nurse’ please help us to thank them; and maybe even consider joining their ranks.

Population Health Division can offer RNs who are interested in becoming an accredited Nurse Provider the possibility of being successful in obtaining a scholarship to complete the NSW College of Nursing distance Education package.

This course is designed for Registered Nurses working in health areas where administration of immunisation is part of their role or those wishing to enhance their career opportunities. Successful completion of this course is also a requirement for authorisation to administer vaccinations without the direction of a Medical Officer within NSW. For more information contact Carole Gander, Coordinator of Immunisation Services Population Health Division, Dubbo office on 02 6841 5575.


PAGE 12

Wentworth Hospital recently received a $500 donation from the Wentworth Show Society towards the purchase of a Zoll

Autopulse. David Dawes was pictured presenting the cheque to A/HSM Karen Behsmann. (Photo Wentworth Standard)

The Wentworth Ladies Hospital Auxiliary members recently celebrated their 75th birthday.

A luncheon was held at the Daycare Centre and regional representative Marion Dickens attended and addressed the group, tell of the work of the United Hospital Auxiliaries. There are 204 Auxiliaries throughout NSW.

The birthday cake was cut by longest serving member Judy Robinson and the luncheon included poems and stories. The Wentworth Ladies Hospital Auxiliary celebrated their 75th Birthday (Thanks to Tom Doolan for the photo)

Wentworth Ladies Hospital Auxiliary 75th Birthday celebration

Donation for Zoll Autopulse


PAGE 13

The Broken Hill Health Service Executive put on a barbecue lunch for staff on Wednesday 19 to thank everyone for their

efforts during the year.

Special thanks to cooks Greg Pascoe, Maurice Hetherton, and Donna McCormack for the preparation of side dishes

and looking after the cooks, on a very warm day

The Broken Hill Executive wished all a Merry Christmas and a Happy new Year.

Executive say thank you

Melissa Thomson was the winner of the Tibooburra Health Council pedometer challenge for 2012.

Melissa had a daily average of 20011 steps. Well done! The prize for all that hard work was a very healthy yogurt maker and a healthy eating cookbook for families.

Well done also to the runners up. Joanne Nicholls 2nd and Telicia Nicholls 3rd. It was great to see such a large number of our population out there walking and keeping healthy.

Chairperson of Tibooburra Health Council Kathleen Gilby (right) presenting Melissa Thomson with her prize.

Get fit winner at Tibooburra

Retired couple Barry and Dawn Munt came to Tibooburra two years ago from Raglan in Queensland. With a passion for Australian memorabilia, they have set up a museum to ensure they don’t disappear from Australian culture for ever.

There is no charge to enter the museum but they do ask for a donation which they donate to local charities.

Barry and Dawn kindly donated $1,000 to the Ladies Auxiliary of the Tibooburra Health Service. $400 of this money was used to purchase a visual acuity light box for testing eye sight. It replaces a very old cardboard one that was a bit worse for wear. The remainder of the money has been put towards our savings for a diabetic HbA1c analyser that will cost $7,000. This will benefit our diabetic patients greatly.

We certainly appreciate Barry and Dawn’s generosity and wish them all the best!

Memorabilia helping health

Submissions for Far West In Focus can be sent to [email protected]. Note that the newsletter can be found on the

Far West LHD website at www.fwlhd.health.nsw.gov.au

Policy Watch — PDs available on MOH internet The following documents have been published on the NSW Ministry of Health internet site http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/policies. These documents are official NSW Health policy. Compliance with Policy Directives is mandatory.


PAGE 14

Thank you to everyone who has assisted with the production of Far West in Focus for

2012. Your submissions and help in providing information and photos has been

invaluable and the newsletter’s success is very much due to you all. I especially wish to

thank our Employee Profile stars for making themselves available.

I hope we can continue to make FWIF a bigger and better publication for 2013 —

Branko Licul, Media Officer

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/policies

http://www.health.nsw.gov.au/policies

Documents

Far West In Focus Edition 12 - December 2012 West In Focus... · Congratulations to Helen Hayes and ... the recent presentation of long service awards to ... LHDs role in the Broken