Contact us
Please send all correspondence to:
NZSSA Secretary
Martin Bird
TSU Co-ordinator, Sterile Services, Dunedin Hospital
Private Bag 1921
Dunedin 9054
Email correspondence:
President -
Secretary -
Treasurer -
NZSSA NATIONAL EXECUTIVE MEMBERS
President
Garry
Gorham
CSSD Manager, Auckland DHB
Building 32, Level 1, Auckland Hospital
Private Bag 92024, Auckland
Phone: (09) 307 4949 ext. 23418
Mobile: 021 938 846
Email: garryg@adhb.govt.nz
I joined Sterile Services in 1990 as a Storeman working for
Ninewells Hospital in Dundee, Scotland. Throughout my time
there, I moved through the ranks becoming a Supervisor then
to the position of Stores and Transport Officer when the service
was Centralised to include Tayside, Fife and Perth and Kinross
regions, which at the time made use the only Centralised Department
in the UK covering 46 Theatres.
During my time there, technology and legislation changed
so much with the introduction of various UK and International
Standards. I therefore gained an interest in the Quality side
of this specialised field. In 1997, I trained to become an
Internal Auditor for ISO Standards and assisted the Quality
Manager in the implementation of ISO 9001. As I was keen to
further my Career in Sterile Services, all the senior posts
within Dundee were filled, and opportunities were limited,
I applied for the vacant post of Quality Assurance Manager
in Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. Fortunately, I was successful
in my application and this was the start of the road to ending
up in New Zealand.
Again, Standards changed again and compliance to ISO 13485
needed to be achieved. I implemented a new Quality Management
System and we gained the appropriate accreditation. 18 months
after being in this post the Manager of the unit left to take
up a new venture and I took my opportunity to apply for the
Managers post. Again, I was successful and have been in a
Managers Position since 2001.
During the time in Edinburgh, we took on the service to Supply
St Johns Hospital in Livingston (22 Miles West of Edinburgh)
ad at this time we became the biggest Unit in Europe, servicing
72 Theatres, Various Clinics, Health Centres, Dental and GP
Surgeries.
Having started at the bottom, I am living proof that a career
path is available within this specialised field. I now look
forward to hopefully using my previous experience to the benefit
of other departments.
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Vice President / Executive,
North Island Chapter
Shelagh
Thomas
CSSD Manager, Hutt Valley DHB
Private Bag 31907, Lower Hutt 5040
Phone: 04 566 6999 ext. 2745
Mobile: 027 589 6473
Email: shelagh.thomas@huttvalleydhb.org.nz
I trained as a comprehensive nurse at Ninewells Hospital,
Dundee, Scotland in the 1970's. In New Zealand, I completed
a degree in nursing and postgraduate certificates in mental
health and peri-operative nursing at Whitireia Polytechnic
and Victoria University. I worked in mental health for several
years then in 2000 took up a position as a theatre nurse at
HVDHB specialising in general surgery.
My real crash course in CSSD operations was in 2006 as a
Senior Professional Nurse in Mokopane South Africa, where
I was on an 18-month leave from Hutt Hospital. It was here
that I had to think on my feet and found myself developing
a CSSD system of procedural guidelines and education for Mokopane
Hospital staff, with the remote assistance of my colleagues
back at Hutt Hospital.
On my return to HVDHB in 2008, I took up the role of Manager
CSSD at the request of Myrna Tuya. It was a steep learning
curve but one which I have relished.
I completed my Cert in Sterilising Technology in 2009. I am
about to undertake the level 5 course in Sterilising Technology.
I am a strong believer in the education and up skilling of
Sterile Technicians in order for them to be taken seriously
as professionals and for them to become future leaders in
their profession. I am grateful to have been re-elected onto
the executive of the NZSSA this year. We have come a long
way as a profession but we still have work to do to be truly
recognised for our contribution to the patient's journey
I look forward to getting to know as many members as possible,
and I will assist you anyway I can.
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Secretary
Martin
Bird
TSU Co-ordinator, Sterile Services, Dunedin Hospital
Private Bag 1921, Dunedin
Phone: (03) 470 9639
Mobile: 027 812 6064
Email: martin.bird@southerndhb.govt.nz
Hello, my name is Martin Bird and I work as a coordinator
in sterile services at Southern DHB. I have been on the executive
for two terms representing the South Island.
I gained the New Zealand Service Technology Certificate in
1997 and I am in the process off doing the level five advance
sterilizing technology certificate at the open polytechnic
.I have also completed the Foundation course in sterilization
at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide, Australia, in
1998. I believe that education is an important part in the
sterilization Industry as this is an ever-changing environment.
I am looking forward to being part of the NZSSA Executive
for a third term.
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Treasurer
Alison
Stewart
28 Brighton Street
Island Bay, Wellington 6023
Phone: (04) 971 4273 (HM)
Mobile: 021 209 8127
Email:
I have taken over from Daniel Phillips as the treasurer
for the Association. In this role, I not only manage the
finances of the Association but also the content of the
web page and NZSSA memberships. Feel free to contact me
in relation to any of these aspects of my treasurer role.
In my working life, I am the programme leader for the Sterilising
Technology Certificate and Injury Prevention Certificate
programmes provided through the Open Polytechnic. I started
this role in 2011 and feel my 15 years in sterilising has
given me a good foundation to support the students.
I look forward to being able to promote the NZSSA in my
role as treasurer and be a part of the continued growth
of the sterilising industry.
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North Island Chapter
Executive Members |
Theresa
Luke (Editor of Supplyline)
CSSD Technician
Southern Cross Hospital - Brightside
PO Box 26064, Epsom
Auckland 1023
Phone: (09) 925 4200
Email: pinkieluke@hotmail.com
I am excited to be voted in for my second term as an Executive
Member of the North Island Chapter for the NZSSA and wish
to take this opportunity to thank you for voting for me.
As Editor of Supplyline, I hope my contribution will be
beneficial to the aim of the Sterilising industry being
accepted on a more professional level by colleagues and
healthcare clients.
I started my career in Sterilising at Calvary Riverina
Health Care (private hospital) in Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia
in 2006. After being in Australia for 3 years, I became
very home sick and decided to return home to New Zealand.
And choose to work at Waikato DHB, Hamilton.
I have not looked back. In 2009, I graduated from the Open
Polytechnic Sterilising Technology Course Level 3. I personally
found this very rewarding, as I am proof that high school
dropouts can be successful. I became a senior Technician
at Waikato which was part of my professional and personal
goal of encouraging uniformity in department sterilising
standards and exceed expectations of my own personal development.
Recently I relocated back to my hometown, Auckland and I
am now working at Southern Cross Hospital, Brightside, Epsom.
I have had the honour of attending the NZSSA conferences
and have had the pleasure to meet and get to know some of
you personally. I hope to get to know many more of you over
the coming years.
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Jenny
Carston
Team Leader, Sterile Services, CSU, Tauranga Public Hospital
Private Bag 12024, Tauranga 3143
Phone: (07) 579 8680
Fax: (07) 578 0719
Email: jenny.carston@bopdhb.govt.nz
I am currently employed as the Team Leader for the Sterile
Services Department at Tauranga Public Hospital and have been
in the Team Leader role since 2006.
I started working at Tauranga Public Hospital way back in
1996 as a sterile Technician and obtained my Sterilising Certificate
in 1998.
In 2004 my husband and I decided we would like to move to
Australia to see how the other half lived and that was where
I got the opportunity to take up my first position as Team
Leader in a Private hospital in Brisbane known as Sunny bank
Private Hospital which was obstetrics hospital and had 5 theatres.
After a few months I decided it was time to move on and try
a bigger hospital which was Greenslopes Private Hospital which
had 12 theatres and ran 24 hours a day 7 days a week.
After only 18months we decided to come back mainly for family
reasons so that was when I was lucky to get a job back at
Tauranga Public as the Team Leader.
Since being back we have moved into a state of the art department
which is a far cry from our old department and with all the
new technologies each area has been made easier for us all.
Our latest project I have been working on with other staff
members is getting a tracking system in place.
I have also got more involved with sterilisation through
attending the Leaders Forum and Steam Meetings held by Kimberley
Clark. I am also verifier for staff sitting the sterilisation
papers through the Open Polytechnic. In 2008 I entered the
Kimberly-Clark NZSSA Scholarship which I won a trip to Adelaide.
I obtained my Sterile Service Technician Certificate of Registration
in 2009 and am looking forward to my second term on the NZSSA
Executive.
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Christopher
Mumford
CSSD Manager, Midcentral DHB, Sterile Service Unit
Level One, Palmerston North Hospital, Heretaunga Street, Palmerston
North
Phone: (06) 350 8875 (direct dial)
Email: Christopher.Mumford@midcentraldhb.govt.nz
I am in charge of the Sterile Service Unit for MidCentral
District Health Board (MDHB).
I grew up near Bristol in South Gloucestershire, England.
After moving to Norfolk to undertake further education, I
began working for Coral Racing Limited as a Trainee Manager.
Within a short time, I was promoted to Relief Manager for
the Norfolk region. When an opportunity arose to move back
to my hometown to manage my own shop, I jumped at the chance.
My shop was in a highly competitive area of the city and within
six months, I had exceeded the hefty profit margins I had
been set.
In 2003, I moved to New Zealand with my New Zealand born
wife and decided it was the perfect opportunity to re-train
in a new area. I saw an advert for a trainee Sterile Technician,
read the job description and thought that it could be an exciting
new career. I passed my Sterile Technology exam in November
2005 and in May 2011 I was promoted to the job of Team Leader
after working as a senior technician for eighteen months.
MDHB has roughly 160,00 people living in its catchment area
and primarily covers the Horowhenua, Manawatu, Tararaua and
Rangitikei regions. It is also part of the Central Alliance,
which is a collaborative agreement between MidCentral and
Whanganui District Health Boards.
The Sterile Service Unit (SSU) mainly services Palmerston
North Hospital, ensuring that all reusable medical devices
are clean, sterile and fit for use in a timely manner. The
SSU also provides sterile equipment for all mobile Dental
buses, Lithoplasty buses, Dannevirke Hospital outpatients
department, Horowhenua Hospital outpatients department and
Horowhenua Child Oral Health.
I feel that education is a valuable tool for Sterile Technology
and would like to see companies participating more in educating
Technicians as I feel their specialist knowledge would be
valuable in helping to expand our knowledge base and insight.
I feel that with all of the changes taking place in Healthcare,
both regionally and nationally, including budget cuts and
restructuring, that it is important for us to strengthen our
support of each other to collectively increase our knowledge
and experience, enabling all of us to attain the expertise
we all strive for in our profession.
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Kerry
Nicholls
CSSD Manager, Wakefield Hospital
Private Bag 7909, Wellington
Phone: (04) 381 8100 ext. 5927
Mobile: 027 275 3603
Email: Kerry.nicholls@wakefield.co.nz
I have worked in the health sector for over 40 years starting
as an Enrolled Nurse then Comprehensive Nurse and continuing
to a degree in nursing with a focus on infection control.
Through that time I have worked as a theatre nurse in public
and private sectors, the last 11 years I have worked as CSD
Team Leader at Wakefield Hospital. More importantly I have
also completed the level 3 Sterilising Technology Certificate
and I am a registered sterilising technician.
Over the years I have seen Sterile Services develop into
a specialty that is both professional and respected by other
health care providers, gone are the days where the naughty
girls were sent to the clean room to count, bag and staple
Raytex swabs ready for sterilizing and where nurses were sent
when they were too old to scrub (of course neither of those
situations applied to me!).
Even though sterilising has come a long way we should not
feel complacent but instead realise that if we do not strive
for continual improvement and development we will lose the
hard earned gains we have made. I want to assist in that move
forward.
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Ellen
Komene
SSU Co-ordinator, Waikato Hospital
Private Bag 3200, Hamilton
Phone: (07) 839 8899
Email: ellenkomene@hotmail.com
My name is Ellen, also known as Erana. I have had the pleasure
of being elected by NZSSA Members as an Executive for the
North Island Chapter for the 2012 -2015 term.
I started working in Sterilising in 1982 at Middlemore Hospital.
I have since worked in this field in Hamilton, Tauranga, Australia,
Saudi Arabia, and Wellington. My positions ranged from Floor
Technician to Unit Manager. I am currently a Co-ordinator
in SSU for Hamilton Waikato DHB.
Every Sterilie Services Unit I have worked for all have their
own processes, procedures, raw materials, and technology.
However, we all strive to achieve the same result, which is
maintaining sterility standards.
I am very excited to work alongside other Executive Members
to achieve and complete any goals or projects that I will
be assigned.
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South Island Chapter
Executive Members |
Mark
Casey
Theatre Manager
Southern Cross Hospital - Wellington
90 Hanson Street, Newtown
Wellington 6022
Email: mark.casey@southerncrosshospitals.co.nz
I entered in the National Health Service in Scotland in 1979
going on to undertake my nurse training and qualifying as
a state registered nurse in 1983. On qualifying, I moved to
the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh to specialize in theatre
nursing gaining a further qualification in this field. In
1989, I worked in the Middle East as a theatre nurse attached
to the Saudi Arabian Military for a year before returning
to the north of England to take up my first charge nurses
post, which I held for four years. An opportunity then arose
to manage a suite of operating theatres for the Saudi Arabian
Royal commission which I undertook from 1994 - 96. It was
towards the end of this period that I was offered the job
of sterile services Deputy Manager/ Production Manager in
Edinburgh Scotland.
Sterile Service provision in Scotland was beginning to go
through major changes with the need to meet regulatory and
quality requirements. As part of the management team in Edinburgh,
as a regional service, I obtained certification to the then
ISO 9002 quality management system which was a first in Scotland.
Throughout the late nineties I was closely involved with
the planning and commissioning of a new state for the art
fully compliant department, which would be part of the New
Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh. During this period, I gained
invaluable insight and experience in taking a plan and developing
it into a fully operational service. Throughout the first
decade of the millennium I along with others worked towards
expanding the service and maintaining increased production
as well as keeping the facility abreast of legislation and
quality standards.
In 2011, an opportunity arose to take up a position in New
Zealand as an Educator at Auckland City Hospital, which I
commenced in July of that year. This role posed a number of
challenges, which I have very much enjoyed. Recently I have
moved to Wellington to take up the position of Theatre and
Sterile Services Manager at the Southern Cross Hospital.
When the opportunity to become an executive member of the
NZSSA came up I put myself forward as I saw it as another
challenge and an opportunity to be part of the larger picture
of sterile services provision throughout NZ. I am very pleased
to have been accepted and look forward the being able to use
my own experiences while a member of the executive. I believe
that the association is very much about the members and that
amongst the many issues facing us that of education and raising
the profile of sterile services in New Zealand are high on
the agenda.
I look forward to being a part of it.
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Sue
Woods (NZSSA Librarian)
TSU Manager, Burwood Hospital
Private Bag 4708, Christchurch
Phone: (03) 383 6836 ext. 99990
Mobile: 021115 4484
Email: sue.woods@cdhb.govt.nz
Hello, I am currently the team leader at Burwood Hospital
Theatre Sterilising Unit. I have been employed here since
2003.
I started my career in Sterile Services at Christchurch
Women's Hospital in 1997. This was a field of work totally
foreign to me so I looked forward to the challenge. I sat
and passed my qualification exams in 1998. While in the
role of trainee technician, I quickly learnt to respect
the knowledge that people in this field of work were able
to retain and share with others.
I look forward to my second term on the executive committee
and hope to be able to be a productive member of the committee.
While on the committee I have the role of librarian.
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Nicki
Quested
CSSD Manager, Mercy Hospital
72 Newington Avenue, Maori Hill, Dunedin
Phone: (03) 464 0107 ext. 8891
Mobile: 027 482 3373
Fax: (03) 467 6646
Email: nickiq@mercyhospital.org.nz
I started my Sterile Services career at Southland Hospital
in Invercargill in 1997. I undertook and qualified as a Technician
in 1998 when the study was administered by the NZSSA and was
exam based.
In 2006, I moved to Dunedin to take up a position of Senior
Technician for Mercy Hospital. Mercy Hospital is a private
surgical hospital with six operating theatres. The hospital
has seen a lot of changes since I started in 2006 and should
be commended for the recognition and investment they have
made to our CSD some of which include surgical instrument
inventory, increasing dept. FTE, acknowledging the need of
an off the floor manager, and a current rebuild is underway
and due for completion in Jan 2013.
I have been an Adjunct Tutor for the Open Polytechnic for
the Level 3, Sterilising Technology course since 2009. I believe
this to be an extremely important year for students as it
builds the foundations for their careers as technicians.
After a 15 year study gap, I am currently sitting the Open
Polytechnic level 5 Advanced Sterilising Technology Certificate
which I have found to be a good challenge and has killed a
few brain cells in the process! However, it will be well worth
it when I have completed the course in 2013.
Being an NZSSA Executive member is a new adventure for me
and I look forward to continuing the excellent work of past
and present dedicated members and working with a fabulous
group of people.
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Sue
Evans
CSSD Supervisor, St Georges Hospital
Private Bag 4737, Christchurch 8140
Phone: (03) 355 9179 ext. 8891
Or: (03) 355 1714 (direct dial)
Mobile: 027 373 2501
Email: Sue.Evans@stgeorges.org.nz
Following a restructuring at St George's Hospital in 2003,
I decided to change tack and move from working in the Maternity
Department as a night duty assistant to train as a Sterile
Services Technician. I worked primarily in the Day Surgery
Unit learning about instrument sets and the principals of
sterilization.
I became a qualified Technician in 2005 (the last year of
all those exams!) - One of the first Technicians in New Zealand
to become registered. I continued to work at St George's Hospital
as a Technician until 2007. I then moved to Burwood Hospital
here in Christchurch and learnt all about Orthopedic sets.
The position of Sterile Services Supervisor became vacant
at St George's Hospital in 2007 and I was asked to apply.
I am still working as Supervisor of the Central Sterilising
Department at St George's Hospital and feel I will be here
until I retire.
Our unit services 9 Operating theatres and I have 18 qualified
Technicians that report to me. I have verified four students
to complete their NZ Sterilisation Technology course. We are
at the planning stage of our rebuild, which will take place
over the next four years.
I am, this year, studying for the advanced NZ Sterilisation
Technology course, which is challenging and rewarding.
I view my time on the Executive as a great opportunity to
network and gain knowledge from other very experienced Executive
members. I am interested in raising our professional profile
within the health profession and am very keen to see new standards
up and running. I would also like to see information shared
freely between NZSSA members, so all Departments in hospitals
throughout New Zealand meet these new standards. This will
then ensure that Sterilising Departments are seen as an integral
part of the hospitals they service and are meeting the high
level of professionalism expected.
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