AC@H and EMP reps with patient Jamie Seefeld
In partnership with the Eight Mile Plains (EMP) Satellite Hospital team, QEII Hospital’s Acute Care @Home (AC@H) service has welcomed its first Hospital in the Home (HITH) patient referral this month.
Jamie Seefeld (pictured) had been receiving treatment for Cellulitis at EMP when the team soon identified he was eligible for AC@H.
EMP and AC@H acted swiftly to coordinate Jamie’s referral and transfer to the AC@H clinic at QEII, where Jamie was able to seamlessly continue his treatment with a HITH doctor the next day.
It was two thumbs up from Jamie, who had recovered within a week and had nothing but praise for the team.
“This was my first experience with Acute Care at Home, and everything was seamless. I met about six different staff members and the care and understanding they provided was great,” he said.
The project evolved from a discussion between HITH Medical Officer Dr Aye, AC@H/CHIP Assistant Director of Nursing, Emma Jackson-Hill, and AC@H A/Nurse Unit Manager, Lee-Ann Waddell, on whether a direct EMP to HITH pathway could be achieved as a method of hospital avoidance.
“I’m all about hospital avoidance. I’d been thinking about how we could create a pathway that would help eligible patients avoid ED and get more direct access to HITH,” Lee-Ann said.
“We came up with a very simple pathway. It takes one phone call to our HITH doctors, who assess the referral and document them in ieMR. We then arrange for the patient to attend our clinic for admission to the service.”
With emergency presentations reaching record numbers in 2024, Lee-Ann says the partnership will ease pressure on the hospital system, while providing eligible patients a straightforward and meaningful service when they need it most.
“We don’t know how big the service might get, but we’re interested in helping patients avoid having to go to ED when their care can be managed by HITH. EDs are busy enough, so if there’s any way we can assist in that, we are more than happy to,” she said.
Lee-Ann says Jamie’s feedback is a testament to the hard work and dedication of the team at every step of the process.
“We want to highlight the burgeoning partnership that has commenced between AC@H and the Satellite Hospital.
“Thanks to buy-in from our key stakeholders, and the enthusiasm of Dr Daniel Weston at EMP, we were able to get this project off the ground. Our stakeholders saw the value of this partnership from the beginning, and we’re grateful for that.”
Keep up the great work, AC@H crew!