Clinical Excellence Showcase

In the current environment of escalating demand for ambulance services, the Queensland Ambulance Service has identified a more agile approach to providing care to the community. Conceptualised as a coordination adjunct, the clinical hub provides an adaptive model of service that ensures a timely, appropriate, and patient-centric ambulance response occurs.

In short, the hub provides a secondary triage to a select cohort of patients and determines the most appropriate healthcare pathway that is proportionate to the acuity of the individual. Staffed by a multi-disciplinary team consisting of senior paramedics, mental health clinicians and medical officers, the Clinical Hub coordinates the entry of the patient into the broader healthcare system after a Triple Zero (000) call is received.

The Clinical Hub has redesigned the provision of ambulance services in Queensland and raises the question: is the future of paramedicine behind the computer screen, rather than the windscreen?

In the current environment of escalating demand for ambulance services, the Queensland Ambulance Service has identified a more agile approach to providing care to the community. Conceptualised as a coordination adjunct, the clinical hub provides an adaptive model of service that ensures a timely, appropriate, and patient-centric ambulance response occurs.

In short, the hub provides a secondary triage to a select cohort of patients and determines the most appropriate healthcare pathway that is proportionate to the acuity of the individual. Staffed by a multi-disciplinary team consisting of senior paramedics, mental health clinicians and medical officers, the Clinical Hub coordinates the entry of the patient into the broader healthcare system after a Triple Zero (000) call is received.

The Clinical Hub has redesigned the provision of ambulance services in Queensland and raises the question: is the future of paramedicine behind the computer screen, rather than the windscreen?

The lack of a dedicated wound care service at St George Hospital meant patients were scheduled for complex wound care services in daily emergency department (ED)-hosted clinics. After a lot of probing, engagements and discussions, an idea was formed about an alternative service delivery model, made possible thanks to COVID-19 and the need to move services out of acute areas, like the ED.

In this presentation Beth will explain how the South West team totally transformed the service into a multidisciplinary, nurse navigator-led service with telehealth links to statewide podiatry and community partners. In addition, there are now work, education and upskilling opportunities for clinicians – not to mention a very happy patient cohort whose outcomes are much improved.

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, Townsville Hospital and Health Service (THHS) and its partners aimed to keep the remote indigenous community of Palm Island safe while also keeping connection to country strong.

The challenge was to prepare and enact an effective COVID-19 response which considered the limited access to the Island, transience of the community, varying levels of health literacy and overcrowding. THHS had to ensure a strong focus on the First Nations people’s connection to culture, country, family, and community, whilst maintaining the community’s safety during a COVID-19 surge. Find out how they did it and the power of working together to keep communities safe.

Diabetes is Australia’s fastest growing chronic disease, posing a significant impact on the health and wellbeing of Australians and to our health system.

The impact of diabetes is over-represented within lower socioeconomic regions such as Logan, south of Brisbane. Diabetes is the most common cause of potentially preventable hospitalisations in Logan, a rate 60 per cent higher than the national average. Admissions due to complications of Type 2 Diabetes represent a quarter (24 per cent) of all potentially preventable hospitalisations.

In this presentation Dr Littlewood will discuss a Queensland-first alliance with Health and Wellbeing Queensland, The University of Queensland (UQ), UQ Health Care, Metro South Health, Brisbane South Primary Health Network and Griffith University, to deliver diabetes care differently with an aim to reduce the burden of the disease on individuals, the community and the health system.

The first 2,000 days of life, commencing pre-conceptually with the development of the sperm and the ovum are critical to long-term health and wellbeing. Poor health outcomes at the start to life manifest in chronic disease with long term costs for individuals, families, and health systems. Yet women who most need comprehensive antenatal care, including those with low educational attainment, ethnic minority status, or psychosocial risk factors, are least likely to access it.

To address this, Metro South Health undertook a true co-design of a continuity of midwifery care model with consumers, now known as the Community Maternity Hubs (Hubs). This included a birthing in our community model for First Nations people and implementation of community led collective impact frameworks and redesign of the service.

The first 2,000 days of life, commencing pre-conceptually with the development of the sperm and the ovum are critical to long-term health and wellbeing. Poor health outcomes at the start to life manifest in chronic disease with long term costs for individuals, families, and health systems. Yet women who most need comprehensive antenatal care, including those with low educational attainment, ethnic minority status, or psychosocial risk factors, are least likely to access it.

To address this, Metro South Health undertook a true co-design of a continuity of midwifery care model with consumers, now known as the Community Maternity Hubs (Hubs). This included a birthing in our community model for First Nations people and implementation of community led collective impact frameworks and redesign of the service.

Navigating Happiness is a four-week practical skill group to help participants to live a more meaningful life, with promising results.

The program is improving therapeutic service availability and accessibility for regional and rural consumers as well as training for clinicians, with some 250 health professionals across Australia completing the associated training.

Data analysis showed statistically significant improvement of participant overall satisfaction in life, with the improvement maintaining three to six months later.

The Patient Wellness initiative is a new, innovative model of care, focused on supporting patients with a complex interplay of risk factors to reduce their health risks as they await orthopaedic elective surgery.

The Patient Wellness Initiative transforms an everyday health system interaction into an opportunity for behaviour change, capitalising on the elective surgery waiting period to unveil a broader discussion about overall health and wellbeing and opportunities for reducing health risks and changing behaviour. Patients will gain greater knowledge of their health risks and will be supported to seamlessly navigate the public health system to access ongoing coaching and support to improve their modifiable lifestyle risk factors.

The Patient Wellness initiative is a new, innovative model of care, focused on supporting patients with a complex interplay of risk factors to reduce their health risks as they await orthopaedic elective surgery.

The Patient Wellness Initiative transforms an everyday health system interaction into an opportunity for behaviour change, capitalising on the elective surgery waiting period to unveil a broader discussion about overall health and wellbeing and opportunities for reducing health risks and changing behaviour. Patients will gain greater knowledge of their health risks and will be supported to seamlessly navigate the public health system to access ongoing coaching and support to improve their modifiable lifestyle risk factors.