ANNUAL REPORT - Northern Health

Our Achievements cont’d...
Strategic Goal 5
A healthier northern community through
strengthening leadership and developing
our workforce
The delivery of quality healthcare is reliant on a strong
and committed workforce. Northern Health’s workforce
continues to expand and improve in quality and
productivity to meet the growth in demand for our services.
Strengthened leadership and workforce development is a
strategic priority, where success will ensure Northern Health
can deliver quality services, now and into the future.
To enhance the workforce planning and development
process, a number of new, senior positions were identified.
Appointments have been made in the roles of Director
Human Resources and Chief information Officer. For the first
time, the appointment of a full time Clinical Services Director
as head of the Obstetric and Gynaecology Department has
been made.
Northern Health’s Human Resources department supports
a number of leadership programs. Courses offered, focus
on Training and Development and include Transition to
Management, Project Management and Leading Staff
Through Change.
A Strategic Leadership program is being developed to
provide leaders within the organisation opportunities
to explore and develop leadership capabilities and
compentencies. Professional Development is encouraged for
all staff in leadership positions and is mandatory for member
of the Executive Management team.
At a clinical level, Northern Health’s Medical, Nursing and
Allied Health staff continue to receive support. The recent
redevelopment of the Clinical Support Unit for both Medical
and Nursing staff has seen improvements in recruitment and
management of staff.
A record number of Junior Doctors commenced their medical
internship with Northern Health in 2010, commencing at
The Northern Hospital. The group of 38, the largest intake
of interns at the Hospital to date, is working across a variety
of disciplines including general medicine, surgery, vascular,
orthopaedics, emergency, radiology, psychiatry, anaesthetics
and general practice. The increase in the number of medical
interns strengthens our capacity to respond to the health
needs within the community.
A number of staff continue to represent Northern Health
on working groups and at conferences. The Paediatric
Department has representatives on the Metropolitan
Working Group of the Paediatric Clinical Network and the
Maternity & Newborn Clinical Network Leadership Group.
Both these groups evaluate paediatric care state-wide.
The successful recruitment of surgeons throughout the
year is allowing full utilisation of operating sessions across
operating theatres at Broadmeadows Health Service and The
Northern Hospital.
Northern Health is committed to the ongoing development
and education of Nurses across the organisation and has
developed and enhanced the nursing education function.
The Graduate Nurse Program has been reviewed and
expanded, with plans for continued expansion in 2011.
The role of Nurse Practitioner is also being reviewed and
Northern Health now has four endorsed Nurse Practitioners.
The inaugural Northern Health Nursing strategic planning
day was held in May 2010 the Chief Nurse Victoria in
attendance and presenting on the day.
Student health professionals are the future of healthcare and
there is an expectation of qualified health professionals to
work effectively together to achieve high quality outcomes
for the community. Most of our health professional training
however is still provided to individual discipline groups.
The Interprofessional Clinical Education (IPCE) program
is an innovative program that has evolved over the past
three years. It is an interactive workshop style experience
available to senior allied health, medicine and nursing
students on placement at Northern Health and a wide
range of health and human service agencies in the region
including community health, mental health, private hospitals
and practices, aged care and rehabilitation facilities. Using
experiential learning, small group activities, and complex
case studies, the students explore how interprofessional
teams can work more effectively together to meet patients’
needs. Students report that the program provides a positive
and valuable learning opportunity and their supervisors
observe post-program improvements in students’ team
interactions in the clinical care setting.
Dr Natalie de Morton from Northern Health and La Trobe
University has been awarded a 2010 Churchill Fellowship to
further expand her work on physical ageing, mobility and
exercise for older people. Churchill Fellowships are awarded
to Australians who are striving for excellence, are passionate
about their profession and who have a strong community
focus.
Dr de Morton’s research and development of the de Morton
Mobility Index (DEMMI) has been significant in helping
clinicians accurately measure the mobility status of older
acute medical patients. Mobility is a very important indicator
30 09/10 Northern Health Annual Report