Specialist Grampians Health geriatric doctors are helping to improve patient outcomes in Stawell and Horsham through regular visits.

The doctors have visited both towns in the past few months in a service expected to expand further in the future.

Stawell campus acute nurse unit manager Amy Yole said the geriatric service was an example of how Grampians Health could expand services to its regional campuses.

“In the past we would have waited months for this kind of service at Stawell. It used to be on a referral system that we would refer through and then it would be outsourced,” she said.

“For us, this new service has meant better outcomes for all our patients in that category because they are receiving timely care.

“It also supports our Hospital Medical Officers’ team with decision making and diagnostics and that higher level of skilled assessment and medical intervention.”

Ms Yole said the geriatric service was for older patients, but there was no strict criteria.

“Sometimes we get patients a bit younger that might have early onset dementia or more complex issues so they definitely don’t exclude anyone,” she said.

“They might be just someone who has limited ability to care for themselves at home.

“They can also help give that reassurance to families if needed and help with the more complex cases that might have been delayed prior to us having this service.”

Three Grampians Health geriatricians work on a roster system and a geriatrician registrar visits Stawell and Horsham every week, treating patients with capacity difficulties or cognitive decline.

Ms Yole described the service as ‘a huge win’ for the Stawell and Horsham campuses.

“Our HMOs are learning from the geriatricians because they have this wealth of knowledge and they are supporting them,” she said. 

“They are able to have a real complex ward round with these highly skilled clinicians and that is helping them learn as well. The other thing is that by having the geriatricians come up here and learning what Stawell can manage, they can make a firm assessment on which hospital campus is the best for each individual patient.

“So, in that way they’ve been able to prevent premature transfers or be able to facilitate transfers earlier than they would have been. It’s kind of like having a set of eyes at each campus with that collaborative approach helping to keep people closer to home.

“A lot of our geriatrician reviews in the past would have been by Telehealth and we don’t have to do that anymore, which is also a better outcome.

“Having three sets of medical eyes on a patient as opposed to one set is always a good thing. They also look at their medications in depth and work out how we can best treat the patients.”

Grampians Health chief operating officer Ben Kelly said geriatrician visits highlighted how Grampians Health could deliver specialist care closer to home.

“Specialist support such as the services of geriatricians have been sadly lacking in smaller regional centres,” he said.

“Care closer to home is obviously a key goal for our communities and therefore for our clinical services. The desire to invest in service development opportunities by our clinicians in Stawell and Horsham is a great credit to them.”

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