Striving to Thrive at Murdoch

8 May 2023

Murdoch’s Thrive Councils are elected groups of caregivers from patient-facing areas across the hospital, including nursing, patient care assistants, and administration, who are responsible for making decisions to improve patient safety and quality from a patient and caregiver perspective. 

The Expo saw the Councils gather with St John of God Health Care Chief Operating Officer Ben Edwards, St John of God Murdoch Hospital Acting CEO Michael Salter, and Murdoch’s Director of Nursing and Patient Experience Sarah-Jayne Powell, amongst others.

“Thrive is central to the way Murdoch operates – developing our caregivers and investing in their wellbeing is the pathway to improving performance and engagement, and the results of our investment in Thrive can been seen in our excellent patient experience and caregiver engagement results.” Michael Salter said.

“Seeing the myriad different ways our empowered caregivers have designed and delivered initiatives to improve safety, patient experience and caregiver wellbeing is really wonderful.”

The Thrive Council leadership model is based on Shared Governance, an evidence-based approach which provides support and structure to solve problems, innovate and improve care, and implement excellent initiatives to make sustainable and successful improvements. Caregivers realise, and track their own goals, and the impact these changes have.

Caregivers praise the Councils, citing a number of benefits which include having the opportunity to be the key drivers in positive change, being able use their voice to improve patient and hospital experience, having the ability to advocate for patients and co-workers, forming stronger relationships with caregivers, and collaboratively working together to bring about change.

Currently, Murdoch has 15 Thrive Councils, with five additional councils planned to roll out over the course of the year. 

The Councils are provided rostered, paid time to meet as a group to focus on the areas of patient safety and quality, patient satisfaction, and caregiver wellbeing.

The Thrive Councils have been instrumental in developing incredible initiatives over the last few years, including the introduction of wellbeing dog Sunny, therapy dog visits in Hospice and St Elizabeth Ward, beanies for patients in the cooler weather on St Elizabeth Ward, updating artwork throughout the ICU/CCU, establishing a Patient Experience Trolley on St Rose Ward, implementing a tea round on St Francis Ward, the rollout of the Hospice Happy Hour Trolley, introducing ‘funky scrub Fridays’ for nursing staff, and more.

Wellbeing is at the forefront at St John of God Murdoch, and over the years, a number of wellbeing initiatives have been rolled out to increase support of our caregivers and the high demands the workplace can take on their physical and mental health. 

Some programs that have been introduced include ‘See Me as a Person’, ‘Leading an Empowered Organisation’, a ‘Wellbeing Champion Network’, the ‘Festival of Thanks’, and Thrive Councils.

Following the integration of these initiatives into the Hospital, St John of God Murdoch has grown from strength-to-strength. 

We look forward to continuing to improve the experience for patients and caregivers alike in the years to come.

Image: (Left to right) Michael Salter, Kirstie Bennett, Ben Edwards, Cate Thomas, Sarah-Jayne Powell