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.

We use hospitality as a broad term to encompass non-medical support services across health and aged care, 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 – typically with onsite celebrations such as morning/afternoon teas or barbecues, serving up food to their support staff, often with management making an appearance or even helping out with the food service. Many sites showcased their events on social media, with LinkedIn and Facebook replete with photos of smiling staff.

At The Wesley Hospital in Brisbane, Hospitality Services Manager Luke Hoskin and his team oversaw two celebratory sessions – starting with a buffet breakfast complete with scrambled eggs, bacon, mushrooms, sausages and hash brown eggs, set up in their auditorium.

“We opened it up from 9.30 to 10am to our staff,” Luke tells us. “As we operate a room service food delivery model, not all staff get their breaks at the same time, so we wanted to make sure they could drop in when they were free.”

The afternoon session featured fresh sushi, rice paper wraps and a few sweets. Luke says The Wesley management were very supportive of the Day: “they knew it was coming up and they encouraged us to look at our options around an event - this is what we put forward and it turned out to be a great success. We were very happy with the attendance.”

At Greenslopes Private Hospital, part of Ramsay Health Care, Food Services Manager Ben Hensley and his team again spearheaded a successful event, with the help of Property Services, Chaplain Jules, the assistant director and the executive. Together they were responsible for setting up, cooking and serving a sausage sizzle. “We got through around 700 sausages,” Ben reports, “and we also had soft drinks, lollies and a competition to guess how many M&Ms were in a jar. This was won by Giles from Biomed, who made the closest guess – there were actually 11,830 and his guess was 12,398! Giles shared his prize with our hospitality staff member Grant Eekhoff.”

In keeping with the format set by previous years, Greenslopes’ executive team were again present at the sausage sizzle, serving up the food to their staff in a reversal of roles – a clever way of personally acknowledging the important contribution support staff make to the running of the site.

Above: St John of God Hospital - Berwick celebrating the day!

Like The Wesley, The Mater South Brisbane celebrated the day with both morning and afternoon teas to ensure staff who weren’t on shift didn’t miss out on being thanked for their efforts.

“Mater delivers around 2,200 patient meals every day via its hardworking team, who were appreciative of the recognition provided on the day,” says Hospitality Services Manager Kevin Dunne.

“We were also fortunate to have support from some of our supplier partners including Bega, Inghams, Mission Foods, and Nestlé who provided Kit Kats for distribution to staff (see photo below) – with positive patient feedback and thank you notes from our dietetics team.”

At STARS Brisbane, Food Services Manager Brendan Host brought together all relevant departments for the celebration. “Our entire operational team were there – dietetics and food services, patient support officers, linen services, waste services, security, the loading dock manager, supply team and SEALS team,” he tells us. “Our executive director Dale Dally-Watkins came along to celebrate with us and she made a speech thanking all the staff for the great job they do, which was very encouraging.”

Brendan was responsible for organising and cooking the food, with soft drinks and chocolates brought in by other teams. Tables were set up in the STARS loading dock area and a veritable banquet of food was cooked up.

“We had a huge turnout this year,” Brendan says. “Our main lunchbreak time is between 11am and 12 noon - I finished cooking at about 11.30am and all the food was gone before 12! We had people from the afternoon shift coming in early just so they could be part of it.”

Brendan reports everyone had a great time – “we had people asking how we marinated the chicken and steak, so that means they must have enjoyed them! And we also had the opportunity to talk about this year’s Hospitality in Healthcare Excellence Awards and encourage people to submit nominations.”

He is already looking forward to doing it all again next year. “I think Hospitality Workers Day is a great initiative – it creates a positive work environment and a chance for us all to come together and feel appreciated for the work we do, which otherwise goes unseen.”

In Victoria, Monash Health acknowledged the day with a thank you letter to all staff and an announcement on social media.

In NSW, St Vincent’s Private Hospital Sydney held an afternoon tea and a blind food tasting competition between staff members. “They had to identify nine different things, from diced carrot to sultanas, grapes and a Bounty chocolate bar,” says Food Services Manager Paul Constable.

“We’ve done hundreds of afternoon teas and quizzes and this was just an attempt to do something a little different to make it more memorable. It was good fun for everyone who attended and they appreciated the opportunity to be recognised for the work they do.”

Social media posts acknowledging the day were also made by health and aged care organisations such as Maggie Beer Foundation, Healthshare NSW and others.

And in keeping with the tradition established over the past several years, the WA Branch of Hospitality in Healthcare held a special evening celebration in honour of the day, held at The Point Bar overlooking the Swan River, which received strong attendance (you can read more about this in this issue’s WA State Report).