HOSPITAL NEWS
Greenslopes specialist
awarded Federal
Government grant for
orthopaedic research
A Greenslopes shoulder surgeon has received
funding to help develop a new research centre
to improve outcomes for patients suffering from
osteoarthritis and other orthopaedic conditions.
Dr Ashish Gupta founded the Queensland Unit for Advanced
Shoulder Research (QUASR) and, alongside a leadership
team, put in a bid to the Federal Government’s Australian
Research Council (ARC) to develop a centre for orthopaedic
shoulder biomechanics.
The leadership team comprised of Prof YuanTong Gu,
Prof Peter Pivonka, Prof Graham Kerr and A/Prof Kenneth
Cutbush from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).
The submission was successful and received a $4 million
grant from the ARC to help develop the Industrial
Transformation Training Centre for Joint Biomechanics
(ITTC). The centre is a collaborative effort between QUT and
several industry and university partners, which has attracted
a total of $7.7million in cash and in-kind support.
“It is a great honour to receive the grant; there is only a
handful of ITTCs in Australia and this is certainly a large
impetus for shoulder research. It is a great win for the team
and all our collaborators at QUASR,” Dr Gupta said.
The aim of the ITTC will be to advance surgical training,
developing workforce in the biomedical industry and the
development of personalised medical solutions for patients
with shoulder problems.
It will also help to train and teach health professionals,
to develop the next generation of implants and
orthopaedic solutions.
Key focus areas for the Queensland Unit for Advanced
Shoulder Research include:
• Personalised arthroplasty or joint replacements
• New 3D printed tissue patches to help with rotator cuff tears
• Physiotherapy and rehabilitation solutions for sports
shoulder injuries
• Shoulder cartilage research
• Improvements in the current surgical techniques and using
3D printing, virtual reality and robotics to supplement
surgical procedures
“The main arms of the grant are to look at rehabilitation of
patients, 3-D printing of implants, and biomechanics of the
shoulder. This will improve our understanding why implants
fail; so it is a fairly large undertaking,” Dr Gupta said.
Clinical data from Greenslopes Private Hospital will be used
to help with research projects. Eventually, new techniques
and new equipment developed at the centre will be trialled
at the hospital.
“Greenslopes has been a really good in supporting
complex shoulder surgery procedures and the use of new
technology. The hospital’s CEO, Chris Went, and Ramsay
Hospital Research Foundation CEO, Nicola Ware, have been
very focussed on supporting research at Greenslopes,”
Dr Gupta said.
The grant money will be used to employ up to 25 PhD and
postdoctoral students to work at the centre over the next
four years.
6 The Ramsay Way 2020 | 01
John Flynn Private Hospital launches
revamped emergency department
John Flynn Private Hospital has opened the doors to its brand new, expanded and completely
renovated emergency department (ED) in February 2020.
The emergency department expansion and refurbishment
has not only seen a complete overhaul of the old ED, but
has doubled its capacity – from seven emergency bays
and two associated rooms to 14 emergency bays and four
associated rooms.
Among the largest re-developments in the Gold Coast
hospital’s history, the ED expansion will accommodate
demands for larger, better equipped emergency health
care facilities.
John Flynn Private Hospital CEO, Mark Page, said the
development of the emergency department allows the
facility to accommodate the growing population in the area
and continue delivering the highest level of care to every
patient requiring emergency treatment.
“The growing population, assisted by new housing
developments on the southern Gold Coast and Northern
Rivers areas, means that John Flynn Private Hospital is
the primary private hospital of choice for more and more
people,” he said.
“Like in any hospital emergency department, there is
always a high demand for beds and quality care. This
redevelopment has allowed us to double capacity, meaning
we can service more patients and reduce wait times.”
“Looking to the future and the needs of our patients on
the Gold Coast, the revitalisation and expansion of the
emergency department at John Flynn Private Hospital
supports our overall vision of delivering the highest quality
and levels of care to all patients that walk through the doors.”
The emergency department expansion also increases
patient access to urgent medical imaging services, which can
be accessed at John Flynn Private Hospital by patients with
no out-of-pocket costs thanks to a partnership with South
Coast Radiology.
The new initiative means people who seek urgent treatment
at the facility’s Emergency Department could save hundreds
of dollars on diagnostic tests.
The expansion is part of a $30 million “P.O.W.E.R project” –
one of the largest developments ever undertaken by John
Flynn Private Hospital. The project began at the end of 2018
and is due to be complete by mid-2020.
P.O.W.E.R stands for:
P. – The arrival of a new Positron-Emission Tomography
(PET) scanner represents the ‘P’ in the P.O.W.E.R.
development and is a big gain for the hospital which has not
previously had these comprehensive diagnostic capabilities.
O. W. –Two new operating theatres (‘O’) will also be built
as well as a new 30-bed ward (‘W’), bringing the number of
operating theatres to 12 and inpatient beds to 364.
E. – The expansion and revitalisation of the emergency
department has doubled the capacity of this facility from
seven to 14 bays.
R. – The relocation of the renal unit (‘R’) from the main
hospital building to the John Flynn Private Hospital Cancer
Centre was completed at the end of 2018. The new unit is
co-located with the new Day Oncology Unit – which was also
completed in late 2018 – in a large, modern area specifically
designed for the needs of patients who may have to visit the
hospital on a regular basis.