Annual Report 2008-09 - Austin Health

Pictured left: Emergency Department division
one nurses: Carli Baldacchino, Eliza Baxter
and Chris Gartside
RESIDENTIAL OUTREACH SERVICE
Austin Health’s Hospital in the Home
(HITH) service provided hospital-standard
care to 55 patients each day in the
comfort of their homes. While HITH
patients must be clinically stable to
be eligible for the service, increasingly
acute care was provided with a
43 per cent increase in the number
of patients requiring complex wound
care and intravenous antibiotics
HITH nurses joined ED consultants
and aged care services to provide
acute assessment to 190 patients in
residential aged care facilities. See
page 17 for more information.
SUB-ACUTE SERVICES
A major project for Sub-Acute Services
was the introduction of an online
system to facilitate improved referral,
assessment and waiting list processes.
Funded by a $130,000 grant from DHS,
the program was introduced in June.
It assists clinicians to provide more
productive, patient-focussed care by
providing timely referrals, referral
response, improved transparency and
accountability. In addition, the new
system has improved efficiencies by
reducing the duplication of effort and
data entry.
WARD 10
Funding totalling $5.5 million was
received from DHS to open and operate
a specialist ward to treat a mix of acute
and sub-acute patients. Located at
Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital,
Ward 10 will deliver an innovative
solution to the growing demand on
medical wards at Austin Hospital,
particularly by the elderly.
The new 24-bed service will cater to
the specific needs of elderly patients
who, increasingly, have more complex
conditions and require longer stays in
hospital. The ward will enable patients
to transfer from the Austin Hospital but
continue to receive acute care treatment
from doctors and sub-acute clinicians.
Preparation works included the
$1.5 million refurbishment of an old,
decommissioned mental health ward
on level one of the Flanders Building
that commenced in May. The nursing
and medical model of care was
developed and a recruitment campaign
commenced. Ward 10 is scheduled to
open in August 2009.
NURSING WORKFORCE STRATEGY
Ongoing development opportunities
were offered to nurses to extend their
clinical skills. With close links to
affiliated universities, the provision of
post-graduate education ensured Austin
Health’s nursing staff is highly skilled.
An education pathway that commences
immediately following the graduate
year has fostered a culture of ongoing
educational achievement, and more than
42 per cent of Austin Health’s nurses
have a post-graduate qualification.
Austin Nursing Qualifications
MENTAL HEALTH
The mental health governance structures
were redeveloped with strong emphasis
on content of care, accountability, patient
and carer representation and inclusion.
The services are now governed by a
clinical executive and an operational
executive. The committee structures
have been further strengthened through
the development of safety and
quality committees.
The Child and Adolescent Mental Health
Services in-patient unit for teenagers,
housed in the 100-year old Marion
Drummond Building on the Austin
Hospital site, was redesigned to improve
patient and staff safety. The attractively
renovated space includes an innovative
‘sensory space’, a safe courtyard and
isolation room, a recreation room, shared
meals area, single-accommodation
bedrooms and a medical treatment
room. A similar renovation is underway
in the state-wide Child In-patient Unit.
At Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital,
the construction of a new, purposebuilt
facility commenced to house
the Veterans Psychiatry Unit and
the Victorian Psychological Trauma
Treatment Service. The new building
is expected to open its doors in
October 2010.
In response to Victoria’s devastating
bushfires of Saturday 7 February,
staff from the Victorian Psychological
Trauma Treatment Service played a
leading role in assisting psychological
recovery amongst communities
affected by loss of life and property.
In recognition of this service, DHS
awarded a two-year contract to VPTTS
for service provision and the training of
health professionals to provide posttrauma
psychology services.
Mental Health completed the planning
and development of an operational model
to introduce a unique Medicare-funded
clinic for people experiencing posttraumatic
stress disorder but without a
source of funding to underwrite the cost
of psychological or psychiatric services.
Austin Health signed a memorandum
of understanding with the Australian
Centre for Posttraumatic Mental Health
to collaborate on training and education
for mental health workers.
Austin Health participated in feasibility
studies, planning and community
consultation for the proposed Mental
Health Rehabilitation Centre at the
Heidelberg Repatriation Hospital. The
$141 million centre was planned to
accommodate secure extended care and
medium-secure forensic services but
its bid was not approved in the Victorian
government’s May 2009 budget.
Austin Health : 2008-09 ANNUAL REPORT
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