Another year has passed us by with January an important milestone for me marking my first year in the role. The year has certainly been an eventful one with the typical highs and lows, one could say the staff Christmas show saw some of my highs and lows all in the one night.
I will leave it to those of you there to make the judgement call as to whether my leading of the Nutbush on the dance floor was a high or low point of the night. In all seriousness though it was great to see such a big turn out on the night with over 100 staff and partners in attendance. The photo booth was a clearly a big hit and the dance floor rarely seemed to empty, so it’s no surprise that we are already planning what to do for 2015.
Since my last CEO update we have completed the refurbishment of the main hospital Reception creating a great first impression for visitors and patients entering the hospital and one that has been well received by all. I would like to particularly thank the Administration and Maintenance staff for managing some of the logistics, furniture removals and being displaced for the few weeks during construction. In addition we now have a rolling arts
display as part of a local agreement with Campbelltown Creative Arts group displayed in the main hospital entrance which I feel adds a new zest of colour and interest to this space.
Financially we still have some challenges ahead of us in containing costs and at a previous CEO forum some of the suggestions or options raised by staff in attendance have already been implemented with varying degrees of success. I invite all staff and volunteers to consider potential ways that we may work more efficiently with no suggestion being too small.
I have recently received the annual report from the Department of Veterans Affairs in relation to our Pay for Performance and it was great to see an improvement on performance in some key areas for us in comparison to last year and against the national average. We achieved a score of 25.9% out of a possible 30% for the customer satisfaction section. The Nurses and Doctors manner scored 13.3% and 14% respectively out of a possible 14.3%. Our hospital environment and quality of care also scored well and above the national average. We scored 15% out of a possible 15% for patient safety which I think is testament to the work undertaken around the national standards and the importance placed on quality in this organisation. There were some areas for improvement notably in discharge planning where we scored well below the national average.
2015 will obviously present new challenges and opportunities and I will enjoy working through these with you as they present.
Scott Williams
