RESEARCH@RAMSAY From left to right – front row: Deb Webber, Remi Bermudez, Carly Pratley, Dr Mark Horrigan (Cardiologist). From left to right – back row: Helen Kenna, Cathy Newby, Jackie Kanellis, Dr David O’Donnell (Cardiologist) and Dr Frank Parker (Anaesthetist). The Ramsay Way 2017 | 02 13 PHARMACY NEWS St George Private Hospital opens 24-hour pharmacy & GP service WARRINGAL PARTICIPATES IN INTERNATIONAL HEART RESEARCH TRIAL On April 3rd, Warringal Private’s Cardiovascular Procedure Centre, together with Doctors David O’Donnell, Mark Horrigan and Nick Scurrah, joined forces with Prof. Stephen Worthley (Royal Adelaide Hospital) to perform a new procedure as part of the ‘MAVERIC’ trial. The MAVERIC procedure enables patients with serious cardiac disorders and co-morbidities, who are not candidates for heart surgery, to have a low risk procedure that improves the function of their heart valves. This procedure is being performed as part of an international research trial project run in conjunction with Genesis/HeartCare VIC. MAVERIC is minimally invasive, accessing the heart through neck and leg veins. Special catheters with magnetic tips are placed in and around the leaking mitral valve. Once these make contact, a suture device is inserted which pulls the mitral valve leaflet annulus tighter, immediately improving valve function by reducing leakage. The procedure took 2 hours with Dr Horrigan, Dr Worthley and Cath Lab scrub nurse Siu Mei Li, at the femoral access site, and Dr O’Donnell and Cath Lab scrub nurse Vicki Whitmore at the right jugular vein access site. The patient made an uneventful recovery, has noticed an improvement in their ability to exercise and even commented on how well they felt following the procedure. The team is delighted for the patient and is planning further procedures for later in the year. The Clinic provides a wider range of services than the after-hours home visit doctors. For example the clinic can perform minor surgery, take pathology, access radiology and now we have a 24 hour pharmacy in the hospital foyer,” says Dr Joy Mowbray, St George GP After-Hours service employee. All of the doctors working for this service are currently working as GPs within the local area and are vocationally registered or enrolled in the GP RACGP or ACRRM training program. St George Private Hospital has recently opened a new 24-hour, seven days a week, Ramsay pharmacy, the only site in the south east of Sydney to provide a round the clock service for the local community. The service will assist late night shift workers, families and those requiring emergency pharmaceutical care out of normal working hours. It will also support the local St George public emergency department, offering late night advice and dispensing prescriptions. The new 24/7 service also complements the recent relocation of the St George GP After-Hours Service to the private hospital. The local community can now access this after-hours GP service at night or on the weekend and with the pharmacy just metres away medications are easily accessible to meet patient’s needs. The St George GP After- Hours clinic plays a vital role in the local community, providing services when people really need them. People don't only get sick between 9am and 5 pm!
The Ramsay Way - Winter 2017
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