Some of you will have seen two of Western Health’s very own nurses, Barbara Lennon and Jessica Wren, on 7 News last night.
They are among the over 200 staff members who have volunteered for upskilling and retraining as part of Western Health’s extensive and ongoing COVID-19 preparations.
I’d like to thank everyone who has gone through the training programs so far, as well as our exceptional Education Team, for your professionalism, enthusiasm and dedication to supporting this program and ultimately ensuring Best Care for our patients.
For anyone else interested in taking up this opportunity to build on your skills, it is not too late. See details in the bulletin below for how to register your interest.
Following the ‘testing blitz’ that has occurred in Victoria in the last fortnight we are seeing an increased demand in test processing across the state. This has resulted in some longer processing times for tests.
We are working closely with pathology services as we are very mindful of the impact of delays to test results impacts on staff not being able to attend work, the uncertainty while they wait and the impact on internal hospital workflows as we await for results.
Inpatients and health care workers are all treated as high priority and their tests are prioritised. We anticipate that test result turnaround time will improve over the next week.
Finally, a reminder to all staff to please remain mindful of the ongoing presence and risk of COVID-19. With the easing of social restrictions in Victoria overnight, it is very important that we don’t let our guards down at Western Health.
Our communities are relying on us as we face the challenges of coronavirus together. Please continue maintaining appropriate social distances around our sites and self-monitoring for symptoms of COVID-19.
Thanks for reading.
Regards
Natasha
COVID-19 Daily Summary
• Respiratory Assessment Clinic presentations yesterday: Sunshine – 62; Sunbury – 77
• Numbers of individuals tested for COVID-19 at Western Health to date: 8912
• Numbers of individuals tested positive to date: 99
• Numbers of current inpatients with COVID-19: 0
Western Health Telehealth expansion
A number of additional services have joined Western Health Telehealth over the past week.
Women’s & Children’s Antenatal and Paediatric Medicine Specialist Clinics and Insulin Pump Clinic are now conducting Telehealth video calls and are receiving great feedback on the new service.
The new Telehealth website can be found at telehealth.wh.org.au or by clicking on the Western Health Telehealth tile on the home page of the Western Health internet site wh.org.au
The Western Health Telehealth team continue to liaise with a number of our other areas to expand the availability of Telehealth video call access.
PPE guidelines
Our COVID-19 leadership team is very proud of how staff have responded to the challenges of coronavirus.
We’d like to urge everyone, particularly those most at risk of exposure, to continue to follow the guidelines for the use of PPE as safety is paramount.
All PPE-related quick reference guides can be found under P in the Quick Reference Guide section of the microsite.
ICU, Critical Care and Acute training
If you would like to join the dozens of staff who have already been upskilled or retrained to work in the intensive care, critical care and acute settings, we want to hear from you.
We can provide immediate training for appropriate candidates, both with and without ICU certification.
Details can be found in the Critical Care Refresher Information for Participants on the microsite.
If you are interested in participating in this training please email Janet Beer.
ED triage training has commenced this week and ED refresher and upskilling training will begin next week.
We are also offering supported training for those staff who may currently work in the community or sub-acute environment and are keen to help in the acute environment. Please talk to your line manager.
If you are interested in participating in this upskilling training please contact Leanne Nuske.