Social Work at Hollywood Private Hospital

Hollywood Private Hospital August 2008

Social Work Team

There are officially 6 of us, however we are fortunate to have an extended team with social work service at The Hollywood Clinic and a team member based at Attadale Hospital – so really there are 8 (sometimes 9 or 10) of us.

Specialties

Cardiology Gastroenterology General Medicine Oncology/Haematology Palliative Care Unit Rehabilitation Surgical/Orthopaedics

Social Work

Within these specialty fields we all have our own expertise. Our caseloads are reviewed yearly as a way to ensure each member of the team continues to be challenged and develops new skills along the way.

Hollywood Private HospitalHistorically HPH has been a Veteran Hospital. Our patients were all

veterans and our services were designed to meet Veteran needs.Over time this has slowly changed. This change started in 1994 when

Ramsay Health Care purchased Hollywood Repatriation Hospital and changed its name to Hollywood Private Hospital.

For many years this had very little impact on our business as the Veterans continued to come to Hollywood and as staff we continued to provide great service to them. HPH continued to work under contract from The Dept. of Veterans Affairs (DVA) to provide the only private hospital experience for Veterans.

In July 2006 Federal Government legislation changed to allow Veterans to attend any Public or Private Hospital in WA – whilst still being covered by DVA.

This has over the past 12 months impacted our patient population significantly. In the past our admissions have been 80% Veterans to 20% Private patients. Financial year 2007-2008 we averaged a 50:50 ratio. This has significant implications for our social work service.

What is unique about HPH Social Work

• We work with Private, Veteran and Public patients

• We complete ACCR’s for in-patients, even though we are a Private Hospital

• We have our own CAP facility on-site• Renovation plans – Rehab and Oncology

Private, Veteran & Public patients

Our Palliative Care Unit has always admitted a small number of public patients

HPH now admits overflow from SCGH, RPH, and FH

This has provided a challenge for a team of social workers who are experts in providing a social work service to Veterans

ACAT

We have a unique relationship with SCGH ACAT that allows our patients to have their ACCR’s approved by a delegate from the SCGH ACAT team.

This is an uncommon arrangement and we are very grateful to SCGH ACAT for their support in this process.

Gratwick Ward - CAP

• Gratwick ward is our version of

a CAP facility. • Gratwick ward is an open-plan 4 bedded ward. • Transition from medical ward• Non-Acute fees

• Vets/Private/Public

Into the future for HPH and Social Work - Redevelopment

This will create greater capacity for the specialties of Rehabilitation, Surgery, Oncology, Haematology and Palliative Care.

This provides a unique opportunity for our social workers to specialise in a field.

In 2007, Hollywood Private Hospital embarked on a major redevelopment of its facilities that will see it

emerge as one of Western Australia’s leading private hospitals.

The building program will substantially improve hospital facilities, increasing the already amazing

standard of care and services offered. See following photos of the changes so far…..

SummaryOverall it is a very exciting time to be working at HPH. The

main reason for sharing all of this with you could really be summed up in one sentence –

‘We don’t just work with veterans anymore’

So as a social worker this has allowed us great scope for

professional development and professional growth.