The Ramsay Way 2020 | 01 19
HOSPITAL NEWS
New after-hours
medical service
opens at Cairns
Private Hospital
Cairns patients needing urgent after-hours medical
attention now have access to more care with the
opening of Cairns Private Hospital’s After Hours
GP Clinic.
The clinic, which is located on the first floor of Cairns Private
Hospital, will help to fill the gap in after-hours medical
services throughout the region.
Patients will have access to longer appointments of at least
30 minutes if needed, with minimal wait times. The aim of
the clinic is to supplement the services of a regular GP;
all consultation notes and test results will be sent directly
to a nominated doctor.
General practitioners at Cairns Private Hospital’s After
Hours GP Clinic will provide regular consultations along
with minor surgical procedures. They will also have access
to pathology, radiology, and pharmacy services and can
arrange for patients to be admitted immediately to Cairns
Private Hospital if required.
Lead general practitioner for the clinic, Dr Bharat Gadhvi,
said: “People are willing to travel to see a doctor in the
evening or at weekends if they know it is going to be a good
quality service – and that is what we will provide.”
Cairns Private Hospital CEO, Ben Tooth, said: “Should
patients need to be admitted to hospital on their visit, the
process will be seamless with our team of dedicated local
GPs working together with – and fully supported by – our
experienced cardiologists and physicians.”
Appointments can be made from 12pm each day. The
clinic will open Monday to Friday from 6pm to 10pm, and
weekends from 1pm to 7pm.
It will be staffed by nine local GPs who are already working
in the area.
“They have all worked in Cairns for a while; they are all
well-known, well respected and they know the specialists
and the referral pathways which will benefit patients,”
Dr Gadhvi said.
Patients can make appointments by phone: (07) 4052 5305.
New tool screens
mental health of
local children
Joondalup Health Campus (JHC) has
introduced a new mental health tool that
screens young people for psychological well-being
and allows early intervention that may
change the course of a young person’s life.
Dubbed ‘HEEADSSS’
– an acronym for
Home, Education &
Employment, Eating,
Activities, Drugs &
alcohol, Sexuality, Safety
and Suicide – the tool
comprises a number
of questions related to
each area, which are
considered by experts
to be key psycho-social
environmental
Award-winning paediatrician
Dr Alide Smit
indicators.
JHC paediatrician Dr Alide Smit, who is also co-lead
for the WA Child and Youth Health Network, said
HEEADSS would identify young people who may
benefit from early intervention to improve their
mental health.
“Over the past six months we’ve been screening
patients on the Telethon Children’s Ward aged
between 12 and 16. With consent from their parents,
the children are invited to complete questions using an
iPad,” she said.
“Research shows young people are much more likely
to be honest if they are answering questions on a
computer or iPad than when speaking with others.
“Once the questions are complete, a report is
generated which flags any areas of concern – and
we then act by providing the appropriate referrals
and support.”
Last year Dr Smit was part of the team who won the
'Engaging with consumers, carers and the community'
category at the Department of Health's WA Health
Excellence Awards
JHC Deputy CEO Dr Amanda Ling said the
development of adolescent mental health services in
the northern suburbs was something the hospital was
keen to support and this initiative represented
an important first step.
“We know that mental health issues are prevalent in
young people. It’s therefore important to direct efforts
towards proactively improving the mental wellbeing
of our children and young adults as early in life as
possible,” she said.
International
experts visit to learn
from Joondalup
Health Campus
Three high profile Japanese surgeons visited Perth to
learn from a shoulder replacement expert at Joondalup
Health Campus (JHC).
The surgeons requested a visit after seeing fellowship
trained orthopaedic surgeon Mr Sven Goebel, founder
of Perth Shoulder Clinic, present at an international
conference in Sydney.
Mr Goebel became the first surgeon in Western Australia
to perform a computer navigated shoulder replacement at
JHC in 2017 and since then has completed approximately
100 cases.
“This type of computer-assisted surgery, I believe will
become standard practice in the future,” he said.
“Unlike traditional shoulder replacement surgery, computer-navigation
allows us to get within two degrees of accuracy
when implanting the joint replacement. We are only at
the beginning of a new era where high-tech becomes
mainstream in the field of Orthopaedic Surgery.”
“To get the best result from any joint replacement, it is
important to get the replacement joint in the right spot and
at the right angle. We are now able to be more accurate
by performing computer-guided replacements instead of
traditional replacements which rely on the judgement of the
surgeon, eyeballing where they think the joint should go.”
“In shoulders the difference is that there is very little room
for error because of the relatively small bone structure in
comparison to let’s say knee or hip replacement, mistakes
in placing the components in a shoulder can be unforgiving
potentially leading to an unfavourable outcome.”
“How this works is that we do pre-operative planning with
CT scans, and using these a 3D computerised version
of a patient’s specific anatomy is generated using highly
sophisticated software.”
“I can then plan exactly which implant at which angle
would best suit the individual patient, as everybody is
different. This is all fed into a computer, which is attached
to the operating table and used for live feedback during
the surgery.”
“A computer with integrated cameras is set up near the
operative site. Then during the procedure, as I am hold
the drill I look up at the screen and watch, in real time, the
progress of the drill in relation to the pre-determined plan.”
“Computer navigation reduces the risk of error during
surgery, which makes it much more reliable – you know that
where you planned for the replacement joint it go is exactly
where it does end up, every time.”
“This has been a very exciting development in the shoulder
world,” he said. “We hope to demonstrate over time that
by getting the joint replacement perfectly positioned, the
new joint works better, there are fewer complications and
greater longevity of the replacement joint.”
Harold Shaw – shoulder replacement case study.