March 6 each year marks an important date on the health and aged care sector. It’s Hospitality Workers in Healthcare Day – a day in which we publicly acknowledge and celebrate the important contribution hospitality workers make in the healthcare sector.

Hospitality is a broad term which encompasses support services including foodservice, environmental, porters and patient service and more. The responsibilities of workers across these areas are pivotal to the care and recovery of patients and residents – from preparing and delivering nutritional, dietary and culturally appropriate food which has an important role to play in healing, to maintaining a hygienically clean and fresh environment, laundering bedding and clothing, and managing and disposing of waste in a timely and efficient manner.

The day is the brainchild of former IHHC WA Chair Carey Bray, who came up with the idea back in 2018. IHHC National President Lisa Cranham explains, “In hospitals, clinical teams are recognised with their special days, but the non-clinical teams tend to not be as high profile. So this day was designed to give some extra recognition, to give those teams a higher professional profile as well as a morale boost. Carey was very passionate about the concept from the start, he was the one who ensured it would be a national event, promoted via the IHHC.”

Each year Hospitality Workers in Healthcare Day has gained more momentum and been celebrated across more sites and by more providers across the nation. It’s fast becoming a permanent feature in the health and aged care calendar!

This year saw more providers recognising Hospitality Workers in Healthcare Day than ever before – although due to the approach of Cyclone Alfred, some sites in northern NSW and Queensland had to postpone their events by one week.

During this challenging period, IHHC Qld/NSW Branch Chair Brendan Host and Deputy Chair Kevin Dunne – who work at STARS Brisbane and Mater Health Brisbane respectively – faced staff shortfalls due to weather-related transport issues, flooding and power losses. But with contingency plans in place, both sites were able to ensure uninterrupted meal services for patients and staff.

Brendan says: “Some people had problems getting to work – we lost our cook and kitchenhand on the weekend, and were down about a quarter of our staff on the Sunday and Monday.

“As per our contingency plans, we went to a continental breakfast in place of a hot breakfast and also brought in premade meals, which meant we didn’t need as many staff as usual.

“Those who were able to come in showed exceptional dedication – we had people whose homes had flooding or had lost power, but they still came in. It was really impressive to see that they turned up because they wanted to look after our patients.”

Kevin adds: “I came in and slept on site on Friday and Sunday nights – on Friday night in particular we had around 400 staff on site, including nurses to provide care. We had people spread throughout the hospital in all the unused areas in the leadup to the cyclone. Elective and day surgeries were cancelled as were endoscopy and sleep studies so those beds were empty and they were allocated to staff so they could sleep over.

“I think we had probably 100 people at STARS on the Friday night which was the biggest night for us,” Brendan says. “We provided breakfast, lunch and dinner for all staff who stayed over and that was a big operation. Our premade meals were helpful as they could be taken to a staffroom and heated up in a microwave, and we also made up salads and sandwiches for lunch as part of our contingency plan.

“We had ordered up on yoghurt, fruit, milk a lot more than usual so we were able to provide those to staff as well. We set up a little buffet station outside the kitchen which was in place from Friday night through to Monday lunchtime, so staff could come down and help themselves. We had people staying Sunday night so they got dinner on Sunday, then breakfast and lunch on Monday before they went home.”

At Mater Health, the decision was taken to reduce some of the options on the room service menu and, as with STARS, to move to a continental breakfast, which Kevin says “helped us out in time spent on the line as we were missing staff to deliver the meals. Thankfully we didn’t lose power and we were able to return to normal services as of Monday lunchtime, by which time the cyclone had been downgraded to a tropical low.”

Once the immediate impact of Alfred had passed, the planned Hospitality Workers in Healthcare Day events were able to go ahead, albeit a week later than usual. For both STARS and Mater Health, they became a combined celebration of the day and an opportunity to extend thanks to staff for going above and beyond during the challenges of the previous week.

Brendan says: “We held barbecues for everyone in operational services on level 5 of STARS, which has a big balcony overlooking the city – one at lunchtime and another at dinner for all the night staff.

“It was highly popular, everyone came up, and it was a great success - a really well attended event which included the foodservice team, patient support services, waste management staff, meal delivery team and security.”

“At Mater we waited until everyone came back before holding ours on the Monday of the following week,” Kevin says. “On our campus we have two separate kitchens – one for the private hospital, plus a larger public kitchen, so we had two separate events and both were well attended. We held a barbecue plus cakes, sandwiches and drinks for the staff to celebrate everything they do. We have morning and afternoon huddles with our team three times a week so we also used those to say thank you for the job they do in supporting patients.”

Other Brisbane sites to celebrate the day included Royal Brisbane Women’s Hospital – which served and sliced up a delicious cake for staff – and Ramsay Health Care’s Greenslopes Private Hospital, which saw the executive team including Ramsay Health Care CEO Carmel Monaghan, Greenslopes Private Hospital CEO Justin Greenwell and Executive Director Finance and Corporate Services Liam Mason hosting a staff barbecue.

In Victoria, management and staff at St John of God Healthcare in Geelong celebrated with cupcakes served to the catering, cleaning, café and orderly teams, with Hotel Services Manager and IHHC National President Lisa Cranham spearheading the event and reading out a thank you note from Director of Corporate Services Tanya Widdicombe. The team were full of joy and laughter in appreciation of the recognition. A similar celebration was held in Melbourne at St Vincent’s Private Hospital.

RSL Care SA also held events at its Romani Residential Aged Care and War Veterans’ Home Myrtle Bank sites.

St John of God Subiaco in WA treated its caregivers to a tasty spread including hot food and cakes, with managers across the hospital wearing commemorative stickers bearing the tagline “I’m a Hospitality Hero”. Each hospitality worker also received a thank you note along with a KitKat to take home!

The WA Branch of the IHHC held a special evening celebration in honour of the day, held at The Point Bar overlooking the Swan River, which received strong attendance.