Easing burden on public hospitals

A community program introduced at the end of last year may see patients supported for up to six weeks in an early transition home, in a bid to free up vital beds in New South Wales’ public hospitals.

The ComPacks program contract, awarded to community care provider Care Connect by the NSW Ministry of Health, will be delivered by Care Connect, as well as other health care providers.

The program aims to minimise the risk of hospital readmission.

Care Connect will now provide the ComPacks program to six local health districts in New South Wales, providing much needed non clinical community care and support to people after they leave hospital.  

Paul Ostrowski, Care Connect chief executive, claims the program will “go a long way in easing the burden on NSW public hospitals”.

“Previously, Care Connect has serviced four local health districts and supported about 1,500 people per year. We will now be supporting more than 5,000 people per year in the ComPacks program alone. We are thrilled to have been re-engaged by NSW Ministry of Health to extend our provision across New South Wales,” Mr Ostrowski says.

Care Connect will be servicing Northern NSW, Northern Sydney, South East Sydney, St Vincent’s, South West Sydney and Illawarra-Shoalhaven local health districts. Care Connect will be the sole provider in four of these districts and will work in collaboration with other providers in South East Sydney and South West Sydney.

For more information about the ComPacks program, contact transition project manager, Marisa Galiazzo, on 0402 097 866 or via email at mgaliazzo@careconnect.org.au