There is also great news from Mona Vale Hospital with work underway on the Northern Beaches’ first inpatient palliative care unit, being built along with a new 10-bed specialist aged care facility. The new construction follows a new drug and alcohol rehabilitation unit, a support services building and renovations to the Urgent Care Centre. We are very fortunate to have a number of capital programs underway or in the planning. Hornsby Hospital is really coming out of the ground and early planning is commencing for the redevelopment of Ryde Hospital. I also want to acknowledge the hard work of so many of you. Our Emergency Departments and hospitals have been very busy. As always your care for our patients is paramount but I need you all to keep well and encourage you to get your flu shot. message FROM the Chief executive Deb Willcox So far the take-up rate has been very encouraging but it is very important for you and our patients that you protect yourself against the flu. Please make use of the easy-to-access flu shot form through the intranet home page under quick links - it will save you time. Our staff health team are here for you. There is already a great deal of flu in the community and we need to keep you all well.
It is National Volunteer Week – a time to celebrate the hundreds of volunteers who help our staff and patients so much across the length and breadth of our District. I am always interested – but never surprised – when I hear how many of our wonderful volunteers have had first-hand experience of our services, many as patients. People like patient-turned-volunteer Sharon Frazer, who spoke at Monday’s RNSH celebration and reminded us how a kind word or gesture can go such a long way to lift the spirits of our patients and their families. Along with the addresses from our longest- serving volunteer Graham Whittaker (he started giving his time to RNSH in 1966) and former MP and now Lifeline chair, John Brogden, Sharon also gave us all something to think about. She reminded us our volunteers bring a special form of humanity to our health services. This newsletter features the RNSH celebration but keep an eye out on the next edition which will showcase other events across the District. In other celebrations, this edition brings you all the details of the District’s annual nursing awards – see P8 for the full list of winners. Hearty congratulations to our Nurse of the Year Ryan Thomas (Hornsby); Midwife of the Year Tara Kelly (RNSH); and Team of the Year – awarded jointly to Mona Vale Hospital’s Urgent Care Centre team, and the NSLHD Palliative Care Team. As we all know, our District is teeming with talent so it is no mean feat to take out any prize – let alone the top prize – in our awards.
Deb Willcox Chief Executive Northern Sydney Local Health District
2 NSLHDNEWS | ISSUE 9| 23 MAY 2019
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