A million thanks to our home care nurses

16 Nov 2018

16 November 2018 

St John of God Health Care recently received the $1 million bequest from a longtime patient who was visited daily by nurses at home in Ballarat.

“A big thank you to this patient and their family for this generous bequest,” St John of God Health Care Group Chief Executive Officer Dr Shane Kelly said.

“It is wonderful to know that our home nursing care made such a difference in this patient’s life that they were moved to help us continue providing these services to the Ballarat community.

“This is testament to how valued and highly regarded our home nursing services are to our patients.”

This year, work started on integrating St John of God Health Choices more closely with our Western Australian and Victorian hospitals to provide better continuity of care after patients are discharged from hospital.

Shane said this structural change would give hospital caregivers a better understanding of the services available and be able to more easily refer patients to home nursing care.

“Our results in Western Australia over the last 12 months show that demand is growing – we have experienced a 24 per cent increase in referrals and our postnatal care midwives have seen more mothers in their home than ever before,” he said.

“This shows we have reviewed and integrated our service at the right time to give patients better access to care.”

Shane said home nursing care was also in demand in Victoria by those referred from other hospitals.

“In the Melbourne metropolitan area, many of our patients are referred from other hospitals, so integrating St John of God Health Choices with the hospitals and enabling the service to be tailored for this market, means we have a great opportunity to build and extend services we offer to patients as they transition back home,” he said.

Our home nursing care

“Home and community nursing is an important part of our Mission at St John of God Health Care as it provides greater choice and allows patients to maintain independence, and receive appropriate clinical care in the comfort and security of their own home," Dr Kelly said.

“Throughout the healthcare industry there is a growing understanding that providing patients with hospital care in the home is really important – not only to meet patient preferences but also because in some circumstances patient outcomes improve when cared for in the home.

“This means there will be more opportunities in the future for care modalities to be done in the home and this integration will mean we are prepared and able to meet the needs of our patients today and tomorrow.”