ANNUAL REVIEW master Final3a - St Vincent's University Hospital

St. Vincent’s Healthcare Group Limited - Annual Review 2007
St. Vincent's Private Hospital
Allied Health Division
Introduction
The Allied Health Division incorporates Administration, Cardiology, Dietetics, Diagnostic Imaging (Radiology),
Medical Physics, Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Radiotherapy, Respiratory, and Social Work.
Departments provide clinical and/or non-clinical support services to in-patient wards and offer a range of
outpatient services.
The overall objective of the Division is to provide and develop services to meet the needs of patients and
their relatives.
The following contains a general overview of key issues, service enhancements and events that took place
in 2007.
2007 – An Overview
Staff throughout the Division are to be thanked for their hard work, flexible attitude and overall commitment
to meeting an increasing number and range of patient needs. This has been particularly challenging in some
areas where there have been limitations in staff numbers and treatment facilities.
A difficult time was also felt in September, with the loss of our colleague and Senior Pharmacist, Mary Cogan.
Her contribution to services during her years at St. Vincent’s was significant and she is dearly missed.
General
The year presented various challenges and opportunities throughout the Division. An overview of key issues
that affected Allied Health services are detailed below.
Staff in all departments (with the exception of Radiotherapy) participated in User Groups with architects to
work on the design of departments in the New Hospital. The project offers numerous opportunities and
challenges for the development of services in the purpose built facility.
Work continued with Accreditation as staff from across the Division joined with colleagues from St. Vincent’s
University Hospital and St. Michael’s Hospital in the various care teams.
Heads of Department from Allied Health and Support Services took part in Management Development
training. Feedback on the course run by an external company was excellent and all departments gained from
covering a range of subjects from goal setting to running effective meetings.
In an effort to improve documentation for training, individual training cards were introduced for all staff in the
Division. These allow staff to keep track of all training they have attended, including mandatory training such
as manual handling and fire safety.
CT activity increased by over 10%. A key factor in this rapid expansion in activity was as a result of a VHI
agreement to reimburse oncology patients who require CT scans as part of a review of their condition.
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