New EMHS Health Hub in Belmont caring for the elderly
The friendly clinicians can support all aspect of care for elderly residents to stay healthy in the community and avoid hospitalisation where possible.
East Metropolitan Health Service (EMHS) now has an Older Adult Health Hub - the second in Western Australia.
Minister for Health Meredith Hammat and Minister for Aged Care and Seniors Simone McGurk, officially opened the Hub which has been designed to provide short-term, multidisciplinary assessment and wrap-around support for seniors whose health needs have become complex.
Working alongside General Practitioners (GP’s), the Hub aims to stabilise health issues, improve function and wellbeing, and support patients to continue receiving their ongoing care from their usual GP.
Dr Richelle Douglas, Director of EMHS CareConnect has been working on the Hub from design to conception and says this model of care places the patient in the centre of a number of health professionals.
“Rather than asking the patient to navigate services themselves, we can provide multidisciplinary support in a short wrap around service and then discharge them back to their General Practitioners (GP’s) with community services already in place”, Dr Douglas said.
Services include comprehensive geriatric assessments, physiotherapy, occupational therapy, social workers, nursing, medication management, dietetics, memory and cognition support, and links to community and social services.
Care can be delivered face-to-face, by phone or video, and through home visits where appropriate, depending on a person’s needs, helping reduce barriers to access for people with mobility or transport challenges.
The friendly clinicians can support all aspect of care for elderly residents to stay healthy in the community and avoid hospitalisation where possible.
The Hub, located in Belmont, is the second of three similar centres in the Metropolitan area to help seniors stay out of hospital emergency departments.
The initiative costing $24.3 million is designed to strengthened community-based services for older Western Australians, supporting them to stay healthy in the community and avoid hospitalisation where possible.
Consumers need a GP’s referral to receive care at the Hub.