Edition 1 - Summer 2023
Welcome to One 24-7
One 24-7 is about keeping the valued staff and contractors of Care 24-7 informed and connected. We hope it encourages you to keep doing a great job, by recognising and celebrating our successes and sharing our stories! We’d welcome your suggestions and feedback at [email protected].
In this issue
CEO Check-in – with Paul Langley
MD’s Update – with Sharad Pandit
Work. Life. Balance. – with Cindy Roker
Check us out on social media
Celebrating our people
Amuse Bouche – Alison Kent
‘You can’t touch this‘, John…
Five Fast Facts – with Paul Quigley
This time last year, many of us possibly let out a tentative breath, thinking that 2022 would be easier to tackle than its two pandemic predecessors.
How wrong we were. This year has been another incredibly challenging one as the number of patients through our doors at both Adelaide and Buderim has continued to grow. Coupled with the post-pandemic impacts on the health system in general (well, semi-post-pandemic), it certainly has been a busy year!
As private EDs, we’re certainly not immune to the pressures of the public system. As a team we have continually needed to adapt; to be flexible; to resolve and to do things in a smarter way, to keep pace with the growth and still deliver excellent emergency care, and more.
Having said that, our patient feedback remains incredibly positive – more than 92% are likely/very likely to recommend our services to others.
Our team has needed to adapt; to be flexible; to resolve to do things in a smarter way, to keep pace with the growth…
The results from the recent staff survey have been collected and, I’m pleased to say, our ‘One 24-7’ e-news launches in response to your requests to hear more about what’s happening across our sites. Thanks to everyone who completed the survey and I want to assure you that your words are being closely considered and acted upon.
In addition to the people side of the EDs, we are working to solve / resolve your IT bugbears, with the ultimate aim of having our EDs run more efficiently. Some of our improvements across our sites include:
- a new patient journey board for Buderim,
- electronic communication to patients and investigating the feasibility of integrating the hospital’s admin system with the ED system,
- new document scanning and storage capabilities at both locations.
Behind the scenes, the business revisited its strategy this year. The new plan has some exciting growth objectives, including an increased number of emergency departments and better and smarter ways of doing business and, more importantly, providing care to our patients. I look forward to sharing more on this in coming months.
Together, I look forward to the sense of One Team across our clinical teams, hospital executives and management group growing even stronger. Ultimately, we’re all driven by the same goal – to deliver excellent emergency care for our patients.
Recently I was reflecting on Winston Churchill’s quote: “If you’re going through hell, keep going”. Well, in 2022, we sure did keep going…
Thank you for your commitment over the past year as Covid has continued to cast a long shadow.
Care 24-7 developed a new tagline this year – “excellent emergency care, and more”. It sums up our collective goal to care for patients with more compassion, more connection with VMOs and more speed to resolve their issues.
We’ve been especially conscious of the resourcing challenges these past 12 months, so I’m pleased to say we’ve embarked on a wide-scale recruitment campaign to bring additional talent into the clinical ranks at both sites. This will help ensure more flexibility in rostering and shift loads.
Our new business strategy also focusses on developing new capabilities such as marketing, along with an increased emphasis on technology. You’ll see Care 24-7 finding new ways to promote our services, including through a new YouTube channel (visit it here), as well as more regular social media activities.
It was Peter Drucker who said, “culture eats strategy for breakfast” – meaning that a plan will not work unless you focus on implementation. So, please look out for ongoing signs that our plan is being implemented, in ways big and small, whether through more emergency departments, fresh marketing initiatives, or new technology. If you are interested in learning more or being involved in these initiatives, please reach out to the Practice Managers or email: [email protected].
Above all, caring for people in the most vulnerable moments of their lives will always lie at the heart of what we do. Our focus and priority will always be on activities that enable us to do this even better.
Whenever I work on the floor, I’m privileged to see firsthand your care and compassion and the calm and efficient way you go about your work. As 2022 rounds out, I could not be prouder as we continue providing a valuable and valued service to the health system… one patient, one family at a time.
Just as important as caring for our patients, our Care 24-7 family looks after each other. We look forward to sharing health and wellbeing tips with you in each issue, like these wise practices from Buderim’s Cindy Roker…
I attend to my own health and mental requirements by exercising outdoors at least four times a week. I make sure I see the sunrise at least twice a week, including a brief meditation, reflection or gratitude moment. I love adding a learning into each week too.
Cindy Roker – Clinical Nurse Manager, Buderim Emergency Centre.
Check us out on social media
We’d love to know what you think of this video on our new YouTube channel. Please check it out, remember to Like and Subscribe, then do send us your feedback!
We’re also working to build our Care 24-7 communities on Facebook and LinkedIn. Please jump on and follow our social media pages if you’re not already connected with us online.
Celebrating our people
Both the Buderim and Adelaide teams have gathered to celebrate an enormous year and ring in the festive season.
While the Buderim crew were able to get together last year, for the Adelaide group it was the first Christmas celebration in three years.
In Adelaide, the evening included the presentation of our new Patient Experience Recognition Awards to Molly Smallacombe (Nursing team) and Claudia Draper (Reception team). This award is based on verbatim feedback from patients, highlighting staff who have gone “above and beyond” in the levels of empathy and compassion they demonstrate. Meanwhile our new Living the Values Awards went to nurse, Alex Collins. Congratulations Molly, Claudia and Alex!
We look forward to bringing you details of Buderim’s award winners when they are announced… stay tuned!
If you have photos from your celebration that you’d like to share with One 24-7, please email them to us – we’d love to see them.
We’re a diverse bunch, with many of our team having interests and skills that could surprise (and even shock!) our colleagues.
‘Amuse Bouche’ goes behind the mask and scrubs to find the exciting unknown talents hiding among us…
Emergency medical doctor by day/night, Alison Kent is also an avid cyclist and stage musical fan. She took up competitive cycling just six years ago and often “sings” musical numbers in her mind to push her pedalling.
Alison’s achievements this year include competing in the epic Revolve 12-hour at The Bend, near Adelaide. The 259km solo race ran from 7pm – 7am! What made the marathon ride even more triumphant was the fact Alison had only recently recovered after a serious bike accident.
“I finished, I did what I wanted to do and I’m still here!” she said, after crossing the line.
What focus, dedication and resilience Alison! Tap the photo to watch Alison’s post-race video interview.
Please email your suggestions for Amuse Bouche to us at [email protected].
You can't touch this John!
Imagine being forever nicknamed after a parachute-panted-rapper, just for having a “very painful brain fade”.
A few weeks ago, experienced maintenance fitter John was working on a site in Adelaide, when he made a slip-up…
“Somehow, I managed to put my left hand onto the edge of the plate where I was hitting… and, for some reason, my right hand continued to swing the hammer,” John said.
“I took the glove off, my finger started swelling up and there was blood going everywhere. I guess I knew at that point a Bandaid wasn’t really going to fix it.”
John called for help on the radio. There were nine workers on site and, shortly afterwards, eight co-workers met John and his throbbing finger at the First Aid Room.
“We’ve got a great team,” John says. “We unwrapped the glove, I looked at the finger… I did go a bit white… “
Name: Paul Quigley
Role: Clinical Nurse Manager
Location: Calvary Adelaide Hospital E.D.
Care 24-7 start date: January 1994
1. Tell us, what tops your bucket list?
At my young age, it’s good health for myself and the people I know, especially my family.
2. Think of a person you look up to. Why do they inspire you?
For me, it’s my older brother John. He has been dealing with poor health for about four years. I’m one of eight kids – and he looked after us all. He just sent me a photo – today looks like he’s having a good day. He’s just had a stem cell transplant.
3. What do you do to relax after a tough day?
We’ve always had pets, so for me it’s about relaxing with them after work, whether it’s been a tough day or not. They never argue with you! I enjoy taking our two bulldogs, Barry and Wallace, down to the beach.
4. What influenced you to choose this professional path?
I think nurses are just born nurses! I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years. When I was 11, one of my brothers was in a serious accident and had an acquired brain injury. I just took to looking after him – caring for others has just always come naturally to me.
5. What motto or mantra do you like to live by?
You have to be positive, regardless of what’s going on. Listen to everyone and not just certain people. There’s always something you can learn from other people.
We always welcome positive patient feedback, so to have someone take the time to write a Letter to the Editor gives us extra feels.
“Calvary Adelaide was busy too but welcomed the frail war widow, gave her tests, medication, and after some hours’ monitoring allowed her to go home in her daughter’s care – complete with leg lotion, a sandwich and an orange juice”.
What a wonderful example of the ‘and more’ in the emergency care we deliver!
Howzat for a special dinner invitation?
A huge cricket fan, our very own Sharad Pandit was the beamer when he had the privilege of helping members of the Indian cricket team at Calvary Adelaide Hospital Emergency Department recently. He then also joined them for dinner!
Captain Rohit Sharma, players Dinesh Karthik, Suryakumar Yadav and Yuzvendra Chahal and team doctor Praveen Hissaria happily posed for these photos while in Adelaide for the T20 Cricket World Cup Finals. What an unforgettable opportunity for Sharad to hone his selfie-arm technique!