Our new state of the art Central Sterilising Services Department (CSSD) is now open!

The Northern Hospital Expansion Project hit a key milestone last month with the successful move of our CSSD from Level 1 to their new space on Level 2 (opposite Ward 18).

Over five days, the dedicated team completed the move safely and efficiently – with no interruption to services or patient care.

The new CSSD officially went live on 23 October after months of hard work and an enormous effort from staff to bring the move to fruition.

“I am incredibly proud of the collaborative work done by staff from CSSD and the General Operating Theatres, to operationalise this state of the art department,” said Tracey Wyllie, Peri Operative Services Manager.

“Without their hard work and effort, none of what has been achieved would be possible,” Tracey said.

Tracey explained the move was a “mammoth effort” by everyone involved, led by herself and supported by Divisional Director, Linda Romano, and Operational Readiness Director, Carolyn Downing.

“Even staff from Broadmeadows Surgical Centre participated, providing a second level of expertise from previous moves,” Tracey said.

“The entire project has epitomised the Northern Health value of ‘together’, and demonstrated true camaraderie within the Surgical Division,” she added.

Evient Koh, CSSD Nurse Unit Manager, and her team have been working collaboratively with theatre staff, who are also playing an important role in the new CSSD.

Celeste Taylor, CSSD Acting Associate Nurse Unit Manager, normally works in theatre but has been working alongside CSSD staff to assist with theatre set-up – a new role that CSSD has taken on from the move.

“The new CSSD is a very large, modern department with state of the art facilities and a structured workflow,” Celeste said.

CSSD Acting Nurse Unit Manager, Melanie Almazan, said “It’s a new challenge for everyone, aside from having a bigger department which everyone enjoys, most of the equipment is new, thus staff need further training to be able to operate the equipment.”

“In saying that, our staff have done their very best to be able to adjust and adopt to the new changes. The management team has been supportive to the staff every step of the way, up until they gain their confidence with the different role that they play in CSSD,” Melanie explained.

Staff are pleased with the new space, with one of their instrument technicians describing working in CSSD as “exciting and also rewarding.”

The new CSSD space is spacious, bright and provides unidirectional flow of instrumentation to ensure compliance with infection prevention standards. Take a look inside!