Children from Geelong can now access paediatric surgery from specialists at The Royal Children’s Hospital (RCH) closer to home, thanks to an innovative partnership between the RCH and Barwon Health.
The service commenced this month and will see over 200 children from the Geelong region receive care each year by RCH paediatric surgeons at University Hospital Geelong.
RCH Chief of Paediatric Surgery, Mr Mike O’Brien, says the collaboration is a fantastic initiative which promotes patient and family centred care.
“This service helps families avoid the inconvenience and costs associated with traveling to Melbourne for surgery, while giving them access to the very best in surgical care,” Mr O’Brien said.
Every two weeks an RCH surgeon is rostered to work a full day at University Hospital Geelong. The surgeon performs a surgical list in the morning, an outpatient clinic in the afternoon, and will contribute to teaching and other professional development programs for staff at University Hospital Geelong.
The service will initially focus on day-case general paediatric and urology surgery, so that patients will be discharged home prior to the RCH surgeon departing University Hospital Geelong at the end of the day.
Patients from the region requiring complex surgery will continue to receive care in Melbourne.
Mr O’Brien says the wait list benefits are twofold.
“The RCH is the biggest and busiest paediatric hospital in Australia. While we take about 700-800 children off the wait list each month, just as many children are added to the list each month.
“What’s really great about this collaboration is that, while we are working through the existing University Hospital Geelong surgical wait list, we are also identifying patients living in the Geelong region who’ve been referred to the RCH for low-complexity surgery.
“We can then redirect these patients to University Hospital Geelong so they’ll be closer to home for their operation and outpatient reviews, which in turn helps avoid unnecessary additions to the RCH wait list,” he said.
The RCH and Barwon Health have enjoyed a supportive relationship over many years, with strong ties existing between teams across both hospitals, particularly anaesthesia, paediatric intensive care and paediatric medical.
The new program will enhance this association and encourage knowledge sharing in the following ways:
• RCH surgeons operating at University Hospital Geelong will be supported in theatre by University Hospital Geelong nurses, anaesthetists, allied health staff and the general surgical or urology registrar
• University Hospital Geelong registrars will be welcome to participate in these surgeries and learn from the RCH specialist paediatric surgeon
• RCH surgeons will participate in University Hospital Geelong departmental meetings, assist ward reviews of paediatric inpatients, and undertake educational activity for junior medical or nursing staff as opportunities arise