WA V E R L E Y A LA CARTE DINING FOR PATIENTS AT WAVERLEY PRIVATE August has seen the introduction at Waverley Private Hospital of a la carte dining to all patients. Following on from the success of a la carte lunches being offered to maternity patients this has been extended to all patients and it now includes a breakfast, lunch and dinner menu. The menu changed daily, allows patients to select from a wide variety of delicious and healthy meals catering for all dietary requirements. “It’s all about enhancing the patient experience,” said Jill Gleeson, CEO of Waverley Private Hospital. “Working with patients and staff on the wards, the catering department had identified some issues around restricted times for ordering meals and portion size. Together with patient and staff feedback, a new a la carte menu was developed which included a much more varied choice and also offered the patients flexibility of meal times. This, together with a special tea and dessert trolley service is providing a really unique dining experience for all hospital patients. “We’re delivering an excellent standard of food and have received very positive feedback” said Brian O’Donnell, Catering Manager and Head Chef at Waverley Private. “We have actually had patients tell us ‘this is best hospital food I’ve ever had. I can’t believe this is hospital food — it is better than a restaurant!" “We’ll continue to review the menus and feedback on a monthly basis to make sure that we can keep achieving these high standards.” SIRT uses radiotherapy to treat liver cancer that cannot be 12 The Ramsay Way 2015 | 03 P I N D A R A Selective Internal Radiation Therapy Interventional radiologists have recently performed the first Selective Internal Radiation Therapy (SIRT) procedure, at Pindara Private Hospital, on the Gold Coast. Dr Hal Rice and Dr Laetitia de Villiers M I L D U R A Baby, it's been a big month for deliveries Mildura is experiencing a baby boom this spring with 95 mothers giving birth at Mildura Base Hospital in September. Story courtesy Sunraysia Daily Maternity nurse unit managers Cheree Jukes and Rachel McDowall said the past month has been organised chaos. Cheree said usually only about 65 babies are born at the hospital each month, making last month exceptional. “We had a quiet start to the year and then, come September, we often have runs, but they just kept walking in the door, so we got to 95,” she said. The nurses said spring was a traditional time for more babies to be born. “Considering nine months ago was New Year and Christmas, it always tends to be quite busy,” Ms McDowall said. Earlier this year, the hospital opened an extra birthing suite as part of a revamp of its special care nursery, which Cheree said has helped alleviate the pressure. Mildura Base Hospital maternity nurse unit managers Cheree Jukes and Rachel McDowall, with Jonah Michael Faulkhead, just two hours old NEWS NEWS Picture Brian O’Donnell, Catering Manager and Head Chef, and Sandy Caccetta, Chef Delicious and healthy meals catering for all dietary requirements removed by surgery or local ablative techniques such as radiofrequency ablation. The life-extending procedure is completed in two stages (generally one or two weeks apart) and involves administering radiation directly into, or close to, the tumour, rather than it being directed to the tumour from outside the body. Recently published research has shown a successful SIRT procedure can produce quality life extension of up to eight months. Stage 1 of the procedure involved the patient undergoing an angiogram to map the liver and identify specific blood vessels, which were then embolised, to prevent “seepage” of radiation to other major organs and healthy tissue outside the liver, during the procedure’s second stage. Stage 2, which was performed a week later, involved inserting a small flexible catheter through a small puncture in the groin and then guiding it up into the liver. Radioactive SIR-Spheres microspheres, containing yttrium-90 (Y-90), which were small enough to flow through the hepatic arteries but too large to pass through the small blood vessels within the tumour, were then administered, via the catheter, directly into the liver. The microspheres became permanently lodged in the tumour, thus administering a highly targeted radiation dose of Y-90 directly to the tumour, while other major organs and healthy tissue received minimum exposure to the radiation. Drs Hal Rice and Laetitia de Villiers performed the procedure in Pindara’s new state-of-the-art hybrid theatre which is equipped with high quality CT-like imaging and advanced 3D guidance interventional tools, as well as a Maquet operating table, a unique combination that provides the flexibility and functionality required to perform a SIRT procedure. Dr Rice said he was pleased with the success of the procedure and the opportunity it offered to terminally ill patients. “Patients previously had to travel to Brisbane, interstate or internationally, to receive this type of treatment, but these people can now remain at home on the Gold Coast, close to their friends and family — which is fantastic. “The Gold Coast now offers a world class service that extends the life of terminally ill patients with a treatment that does not further diminish their quality of life. “We can now do this because we have world class facilities at Pindara and the latest technology and expertise locally,” Dr Rice said. ■ “We have gone from having three birth suites to four suites and, even on our busiest day, every single woman has had a baby in a birth suite, whereas on days gone by, before the build, we would sometimes have babies born on the postnatal ward.” September 23 was the busiest day the nurses had experienced, with 10 babies born — eight arriving in a 10-hour window. “It started off like any other day. We just had the one or two births in the morning and then we just finished and another two walked in and then another two and then another two,” Rachel said. “They did not stop for 24 hours.” ■
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