Delivering ‘right’ treatment in aged care at ‘right’ time
A new project will allow staff at a Queensland residential aged care facility to recognise and intervene early when a resident’s medical condition changes.
Residents at Alexandra Gardens are already benefiting from the new approach to sub-acute care
General practitioners have signed off on subacute care clinical management guidelines, ensuring residents living at PresCare Alexandra Gardens will benefit from the new care model recently introduced by the aged care provider.
Funded through a federal government’s Better Health Care Connections grant, PresCare’s Sub Acute Care project was piloted at Alexandra Gardens, and will be deployed across the wider PresCare organisation later this year.
Greg Skelton, PresCare chief executive, says the model is based on a simple traffic light system, which is designed to ensure PresCare delivers the right treatment at the right time, in the right place to the right person.
“The system we have developed is aimed at providing care in our residential facilities for eight common conditions – chest pain, confusion, dyspnoea, urinary tract infection, dehydration, constipation, falls and palliative care. This is supported by a suite of clinical tools and management guidelines,” Mr Skelton says.
The support of the local medical community has been key to the success of the project, and the endorsement of the guidelines by these GPs means that if a resident’s condition deteriorates, there is a clear and ‘agreed on’ pathway in place that guides their treatment.
“This project, as well as others we have in place around Queensland, is about leadership,” Mr Skelton says. “PresCare’s leadership in this industry in offering services that are not offered by other providers and the leadership of PresCare people at our facilities and in our community offices is what helps PresCare deliver on our commitments.”
PresCare Alexandra Gardens is a 94 bed facility, within which PresCare provides services from low to high care, including 19 dementia care beds. PresCare has been providing more connected care to Queenslanders in their communities from Cairns to Coolangatta for 85 years.
