St Joseph’s Village, Auburn, opened a new unit for people with dementia in late March 2011. The Carinya Dementia Unit enabled St Joseph’s to expand its dementia specific beds from 10 to 18, creating a secure haven for members of the community to live in a caring and safe environment.
DOSA unit. This now frees up bed capacity in line with the strategy to increase complex overnight surgery. Furthermore, Theatres 5 and 6 in the main Operating Suite were upgraded over the Christmas/January 2011 period. The Mater is developing a business case to expand its Special Care Nursery, as there is not sufficient space within the current hospital footprint. An opportunity exists to combine the project with expansion works in other key areas of demand, including critical care beds and operating theatres. In 2011 the Mater Hospital was named the best provider of private maternity care in NSW. This followed a major survey of Medibank Private patients which evaluated the experiences of over 2,000 patients who have recently given birth in private hospitals across Australia. Parents rated hospital performance, environment, staff and support throughout the pregnancy, birth and early parenthood. Surveyed topics in the maternity index range from preadmission care, such as antenatal classes and hospital familiarisation, to breastfeeding support and caring for newborn advice. A newly formed group of cardiologists, “Cardiology at the Mater” opened consulting rooms at the Mater Clinic in April 2011. It is envisaged that the addition of this group will result in increased cardiology, interventional cardiology, cardiac surgery and thoracic surgery volumes at the Mater. In particular there is now a more comprehensive interventional cardiology service available at the Mater. Following a nomination by the Mater, Mr Greg Poche was awarded the 2010 Macquarie Group Foundation Great Australian Philanthropy Award at the Research Australia Awards ceremony held at NSW Government House in November 2010. The Australian Council on Healthcare Standards Periodic Review took place at the Mater in June 2011 with excellent results. The report presented by the surveyors was an overwhelmingly positive view of the Mater as a hospital, its services and systems and, in particular, doctors, staff and volunteers. The report highlighted that the number of EA (Excellent Achievement) ratings increased by five to a total of twelve.
At the same time, St Joseph’s opened Bethany, a refurbished section of the hostel on the campus to care for 10 residents with high care needs. The new facility has allowed some residents, who would previously have been transferred to nursing homes, to remain at St Joseph’s Village for a longer period of time, fulfilling their wishes and those of their families. The development of Carinya and Bethany at St Joseph’s is an important milestone in our ability to provide more integrated care to respond to community need. In relation to our dementia services, Carinya is an outstanding facility, not only because of its increased capacity but because it has been carefully designed around the unique needs of our residents with dementia. Similarly, Bethany will enable us to respond more effectively as our residents’ needs become more complex.
many journeys. one vision. | CHAIRMAN & CEO’S FORWARD
to establish Local and Special Health Networks, St Joseph’s now forms part of the St Vincents Health Network. This alignment will enable greater collaboration and expansion of services, securing a bright future for St Joseph’s and the many people that it serves.
In 2012, SV&MHS will take over the state-wide Huntington’s Disease Service, with a new Huntington’s Disease Unit on the St Joseph’s site in Auburn. The new unit will be owned and operated by SV&MHS in partnership with WSLHD Huntingtons Service at Westmead Hospital. The relocation of the residential component will be undertaken with a revised model of care. This requires a 20 bed dedicated facility to be constructed, comprising 14 residential aged care beds, four neuropsychiatric beds and two assessment and monitoring beds. Construction on site is scheduled to commence in January 2012 and the unit will be ready to receive patients in September 2012. We are proud of these and the countless other journeys undertaken by the organisation in the past year, but most importantly and reassuringly, we take pride in the fact that these journeys have been undertaken with one destination in mind. Our mission and values shine as a beacon of light towards this destination as brightly today as the day we were founded.
John Gurry Chairman, St Vincent’s Health Australia
Over at St Joseph’s Auburn, 2011 saw the hospital celebrate 125 years of service to the community, and staff past and present, volunteers and friends gathered in February to mark this great achievement. St Joseph’s continues to play a vital role in providing sub-acute, aged care and palliative care services to the community. Following the decision of NSW Health in 2010
Steven Rubic CEO, St Vincents & Mater Health Sydney
Annual Review 2010/11
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