From today, Nick Caruana takes up a new role as our Hospital Reception Manager for Northern Health. Nick will be responsible for the hospital reception departments at Northern Hospital Epping, Broadmeadows Hospital and Bundoora Centre.

Sue Lisle, Communications Supervisor at Epping and Robyn Johnson, Reception Services Manager at Bundoora, will transition into new roles in Health Information Services (HIS) as Program Allocations Officers.

While we congratulate Nick, we also use this opportunity to highlight the contribution that Sue and Robyn have made to Northern Health over the years.

Sue joined Northern Health in 1986, working at PANCH as a switchboard operator. Sue then moved to Northern Hospital Epping in 1997 to help establish communications services before the hospital officially opened in 1998 and has remained in that capacity since then.

Robyn Johnson started as a casual reception/switchboard operator in May 1995. Robyn was soon made permanent part-time and, by the end of 1995, was appointed to Reception Services Manager at Bundoora Centre. Robyn has remained in that role ever since. Over the years, Robyn has also assisted with Bundoora Bed Management, DVA Liaison and Support Services tasks at Bundoora Centre.

Nick says what attracted him to the role was, “the opportunity to define the role and centralise the management of hospital reception across our three campuses. There was also the opportunity to work with a great team within reception to improve and standardise our processes.”

Nick is no stranger to Northern Health, formerly having worked in Health Information Services for almost five years, first as the Forms Coordinator and then in the Datasets Reporting Unit (DRU). Says Nick, “My more recent role in DRU was responsibility for the reporting of Northern Health data to the Department of Health. This included data such as our inpatient activity, elective surgeries, emergency presentations, and, more recently, COVID-19 data such as the number of patients who visit our Fever Clinic.”

He says his biggest challenge will be, “learning the intricacies of what the team does on a day to day basis within such a fast paced environment. This will include getting to know the staff across all campuses as well as looking to create a unified team and standardising processes where possible.”

Nick sees this new role as allowing for strategic change around our services and workflow. On a personal level, Nick says, “the experience, knowledge and relationships I will develop by providing leadership to a team that is such an integral part of the organisation is invaluable.”

A component of the new role will be overseeing communications for the Main Ward block. Nick explains, “The reception desk at the base of the main ward block will be staffed from 11 am to 6 pm every day of the week. The communications staff will assist patients, visitors and staff with general enquiries and wayfinding through the new building. The phone at the reception desk links to the Northern Hospital main switchboard, therefore allowing Main Ward Block reception staff to ease the burden on the main switchboard, hopefully resulting in reduced phone wait times.”

Please join us in congratulating Nick on his new role as Hospital Reception Manager and wishing Sue and Robyn the very best in their new roles.

Main picture shows Nick Caruana, Diane Chadwick from Reception; David Mangano, Operations Manager, HIS; Terri Fiorenza, Director HIS; Sue Lisle and ISS staff.