Welcome to the first edition of Check In for 2024 |
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Welcome to the first edition of Check In for 2024. We’ve already had an exciting start to the year with many NSW Health staff recognised in the Australia Day 2024 Honours. This includes Professor Georgina Long AO from Northern Sydney Local Health District, and Professor Richard Scolyer AO from NSW Health Pathology and Sydney Local Health District who have been named 2024 Australians of the Year.
These honours are a wonderful recognition of our people, and their commitment and dedication to the health and wellbeing of our community. The full list of NSW Health staff recognised is on the NSW Health website. Congratulations to all those acknowledged! |
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In 2024, across the health system, we remain keenly focused on progressing our Future Health roadmap and NSW Regional Health Strategic Plan to continue to meet the needs of our patients, community and workforce.
Our people are the key to achieving our goals, so in 2024 there will be a continued strong focus on how we support you, as our valued staff, how we boost collaboration and innovation, improve experiences and outcomes of care for our patients, and embed Future Health strategies into our ‘business as usual’.
I look forward to sharing updates about how we are progressing and making our remarkable health system even stronger. This edition celebrates some of the many initiatives that are bringing these ambitions to life.
This year, I am looking forward to continuing to spend time meeting our staff throughout NSW, listening to and learning from you. Meanwhile, Check In will continue to feature news from our system and some of the many achievements of our remarkable staff. Stay tuned for more.
Kind regards,
Susan Pearce AM
Secretary, NSW Health
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New year message from the executive team |
Watch this video for some new year advice and motivation from our Ministry of Health executive team. |
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Patients and staff from Wagga Wagga Mental Health Recovery Unit are volunteering for an innovative gardening project at the Wagga Wagga Health Service campus. |
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Aunty Isabel Reid performing the Welcome to Country at the opening of the Let's Go Green program |
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Launched in December last year, the Let’s Go Green program is an organic waste composting initiative in the Murrumbidgee Local Health District.
“The project aims to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill by starting a composting system, which will be used to sustain the vegetable, herb and flower gardens at the local Safe Haven,” said Erica Engelbrecht, Manager Strategic Development, Drug and Alcohol Early Intervention Programs. “It also brings mental health benefits for the community. Gardening is a great activity to boost mood, reduce stress and anxiety, and improve strength and mobility.”
The initiative supports the district’s Environmental Sustainability Strategy 2022-2024, and will serve as a model for other similar initiatives. |
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“By reducing general waste going to landfill, composting it, and using it in our gardens, we will reduce methane and carbon dioxide, and support an overall reduction in our carbon footprint,” said Erica. “Participants in the project will also gain transferable skills which can be used in everyday life.” |
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Having access to factual, trustworthy and simple information about your health is important and empowering.
Thanks to the Justice Health Information Portal, patients in custody can access digital health information for the first time. |
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An innovative collaboration with Corrective Services NSW, the Portal hosts a wide variety of health information and services. Topics include mental health, drug and alcohol, harm reduction, Aboriginal health, release planning, sexual health, and more.
Shani Prosser, Manager Health Advancement, said the Portal complements face-to-face interventions provided by clinicians. It also gives patients a private space to learn about topics that are sensitive or stigmatised.
“Driving greater health literacy and access to information is one of the key objectives of the Future Health Strategic Framework,” said Shani, a key leader in developing the Portal.
“We know that patients in custody have limited access to health education and our research shows that by improving their health literacy, their health outcomes will also improve. |
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“We want to empower patients to make informed decisions by learning about health services available to them and how to manage their health in custody,” she said.
More resources are being developed, including videos, online learning modules and text to voice adaptations. |
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Research at its best: increasing liver transplant recipients |
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Research and innovation are critical to improving patient outcomes. Research led by Associate Professor Carlo Pulitano and his team at Sydney Local Health District is a game-changer for patients with end-stage liver disease and liver tumours. “Currently, about 50 per cent of the potential donor livers are not suitable for transplantation,” said Carlo.
“This is why our lab at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital (RPA) is developing new technologies to preserve and modify organs before transplantation, which is expected to increase the number of liver transplant recipients by more than 35 per cent.”
The Extended Organ Perfusion System (EOPS) is a liver perfusion system that helps to repair critically injured donor livers, which are considered unsuitable for transplantation. It can sustain these livers for up to two weeks at normal body temperature. |
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Associate Professor Carlo Pulitano and his research team |
| The research at the Centre for Organ Assessment, Repair and Optimisation, under the RPA Transplant Institute, have also increased the useability of organs through new technologies. “We demonstrated for the first time the feasibility of splitting whole livers into left and right lobes, and, after reaching a sufficient size, it can be transplanted into two recipients,” said Carlo.
“Our team is very proud of what we have achieved. It is a groundbreaking research that will save more lives.” Clinical trials will start in the next few months. |
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virtualKIDS goes statewide |
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A trip to the emergency department can be stressful, especially for children. And sometimes, it may even be unnecessary. But after a successful pilot, the virtualKIDS Urgent Care Service rolled out statewide last month. Across NSW, families are benefiting from a virtual care program that connects them with a clinical nurse to determine the best care pathway and care provider based on each child’s needs.
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Amie Donnelly, virtualKIDS Nurse Unit Manager at Sydney Children's Hospital Network (SCHN), said the service has been very well received by patients and their families when facing urgent, unplanned health needs.
“Two out of three kids using the service have received the care they needed without having to go to an emergency department,” said Amie.
“Not only does it reduce travel time, wait time and hospital visits for families, but it also relieves pressure on frontline healthcare workers in our busy emergency departments.” |
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Led in partnership with healthdirect, SCHN and Hunter New England Kids Health, Amie said all the teams involved have worked very hard to expedite the statewide expansion.
“We wanted to make sure families can access this essential virtual care service through healthdirect over the holiday period, and we are very happy that they did,” said Amie. |
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Eating healthy and staying active is one of the most common new year resolutions, but most people sometimes don’t know where to start. |
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The Centre for Population Health has developed the Healthy Eating Active Living (HEAL) summer campaign, offering simple-to-follow tips, tools and free programs that support a healthy lifestyle.
“We understand that challenges such as cost of living pressure and adverse weather events can make it hard for people to eat healthy and stay active,” said Liz Munn, Director of Population Health Policy and Engagement.
“To help keep people healthy and well, we are using social media channels to promote low-cost recipes, low-cost or free approaches to being physically active, and the benefits of HEAL behaviours, such as spending time as a family and boosting mental health and wellbeing.”
The initiative has seen strong engagement on social channels with above average video recipe views, shares and likes. Since the launch of the HEAL summer social campaign, the recipe webpage has been the top-viewed page on the site.
“It is very rewarding to be part of a team that supports the community to make healthy lifestyle changes and makes a real difference to people’s health and wellbeing,” said Liz. |
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Staff wellbeing takes priority |
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To better support paramedics who face unique situations that can be especially testing on both their physical or mental wellbeing, NSW Ambulance introduced Wellbeing Workshops. Since their launch, 94 per cent of the workforce has completed the three-day program, which also now features as part of the induction for new starters.
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Paramedics work in different, sometimes unpredictable and highly challenging environments. Where in a private home or busy public spaces, they face a range of situations including shocking road traumas or heartbreaking incidents.
“It’s the main reason we need specialised training and education, so our staff can look after their health and wellbeing in some pretty unique situations,” said Megan Kingham, Associate Director of Staff Health at NSW Ambulance.
“They also have the same challenges as other shift workers, such as maintaining a healthy diet and getting enough sleep.” More than 6,520 staff have completed the wellbeing workshops since they launched in 2018 The workshops cover a wide range of subjects, including mindfulness, fatigue management, key lifting techniques and assessing and de-escalating potentially violent situations. “One attendee said the diet and exercise strategies in the course helped him lose 31 kilograms and lead a healthier lifestyle,” said Megan.
“It is very rewarding to be able to support our staff to support the people of NSW and make a genuine impact on their health and wellbeing.” |
| NSW Ambulance Wellbeing Workshop |
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Connecting with community through the airwaves |
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The Far West Local Health District’s Integrated Care Services is adopting a new approach to overcome the tyranny of distance, connect with the community and showcase their important work. They have taken to the airwaves and launched the
Far West of Centre podcast in December 2023, with new episodes released weekly. Rebecca Smith, Integrated Care Manager and host of the podcast, is delighted by the interest people have shown in the series so far. |
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“This new podcast is an exciting opportunity for us to introduce our amazing team and showcase the Integrated Care services on offer to people across Far West,” said Rebecca. Juanita White, Project Manager for Integrated Care and podcast producer said the team had a lot of fun working on this podcast.
“We are very proud of clinicians for giving this innovative idea a chance and hope the community enjoy it as much as we did pulling it together,” said Juanita. |
| The Far West of Centre podcast crew |
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Season one consists of 10 episodes, and production of season two is currently underway. You can listen to Far West of Centre podcast on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Castbox, Amazon Music, RadioPublic, iHeartRadio and Overcast.
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Appointment of Chief Executive, South Western Sydney Local Health District
Sonia Marshall has been appointed Chief Executive of South Western Sydney Local Health District, commencing the role on 29 January 2024.
Sonia has held a range of senior nursing and workforce leadership roles in both metropolitan and regional local health districts and will continue to bring her passion for health, dedication to community and deep operational experience to the Chief Executive role. |
| Tertiary Health Study Subsidy Program
Applications for the Tertiary Health Study Subsidy Program are now open.
The new subsidies will support up to 12,000 students over five years to study nursing, midwifery, paramedicine, allied health, Aboriginal health, and medical interns. Up to $12,000 paid over three years is available for students starting their studies in 2024-26. Or consider applying for one of the 2,000 one-off $8,000 payments if you're graduating and starting work with NSW Health. Apply today on the NSW Health website. |
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From the Critical Intelligence Unit
The Critical Intelligence Unit (CIU) Evidence Digest focuses on clinical innovations that have the potential to change clinical practice and delivery or organisation of care. In the past weeks, the CIU Evidence Digest featured:
Landmark approval of the first CRISPR therapy, WHO guideline for chronic low back pain and acute care models for older people living with frailty
Tirzepatide for maintenance of weight reduction, management of chronic pain associated with temporomandibular disorders and WHO call to action on electronic cigarettes
To receive the digest in your inbox on Wednesday mornings, please
subscribe. |
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Add these upcoming events and awareness days to your diary and keep an eye out for events happening around you. |
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We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the lands on which we live and work and pay respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We also acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff working with the NSW Government. |
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