We are heading into our first “Northern Celebrates” – a month of celebrations and awards throughout October that recognises what we have achieved, in caring for our patients, every day.

The month includes our Northern Health Annual Dinner, Staff Length of Service Awards, Research Week and our Annual Meeting and Open Board Meeting.  I hope that you become involved in as many of these activities as you can.

As a team, we have a lot to be proud of.  Our Annual Report has just been tabled in parliament, showing strong growth and performance improvement we can be proud of.

A quick glance at the care we’ve provided shows that we’ve had over 99,446 presentations at our Emergency Department making it the busiest in Victoria – (a rise of 7.9% compared to last year.)

We’ve also seen an 11.8% rise in hospital admissions, as we’ve had more than 93,913 admissions in the previous year.  Numbers keep on growing as we also look at elective surgical operations, reaching 10,095 – a rise of 17.15%.

Our teams are also witnessing a baby boom in the north, with our maternity care team assisting with the delivery an average 73 babies each week.

It’s not all about growth.  It’s about our continual quest to improve the patient experience, access to services – and the quality and safety of the care we provide.

Covering three of ten nations’ fastest growing suburbs: South Morang, Craigieburn and Epping means, we play a crucial role of providing “trusted care” to residents of Melbourne’s north.

Well done to you all.

Hope you all have a great week ahead.

Siva Sivarajah

Chief Executive