DHF Annual Report 2009 - NT Health Digital Library - Northern ...

Created four additional positions in Central Australia and Top End Child and Adolescent Mental HealthTeams to expand services to a number of remote communities.Funding was provided to Gove District and Katherine District Hospitals to formalise the roles of AdvancedNurse Practitioner and Nurse Practitioner respectively.Alice Springs Hospital (ASH) established a new partnership with Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospitalwhich provides an Ear Nose Throat (ENT) surgical team one week per month to boost ENT capacity. Thisagreement was renewed in December 2009 and will continue for all of 2010.In January 2010, a new agreement between ASH and Royal Adelaide ENT commenced which also providedan ENT team every four weeks to also boost capacity.In early 2009 an agreement between ASH and Flinders Medical Centre Orthopaedic Department commencedwhich provides experienced Surgeons attending three days per fortnight to boost surgical capacity at AliceSprings and oversee training of overseas trained orthopaedic surgeons.Where we are going in 2010-11Negotiated with Queensland Health to form a collaborative training pathway for Rural Generalists. This willsupport the smaller numbers in the Northern Territory to join others within a similar training cycle. All Rural Workshop will occur in August 2010. Areas available for training include obstetrics, anaesthetics andemergency medicine. Paediatrics, mental health and public health may also be included as areas of interest.The redesign and refurbishment of the day procedure unit at Alice Springs Hospital is due for completionat the end of November 2010. Surgical equipment has been purchased for all Northern Territory hospitalsenabling an increase in surgical capacity.Increased use of the Quality Improvement Planning Program System (QIPPS) across the Northern Territoryis supporting ‘joined-up’ planning and implementation of health promotion activities in remote communities.Redevelop Katherine and Royal Darwin Hospital Emergency Departments.Trialling software to improve Patient Management and Clinical Information Technology capabilities in RoyalDarwin and Alice Springs Hospital Emergency Departments.Construction of the Palmerston GP Super Clinic is expected to be complete on time in the second half of2010. The Department of Health and Families has negotiated a partnership between the Northern TerritoryGovernment and Flinders and Charles Darwin Universities to deliver a range of training and workforceopportunities within an integrated multi-disciplinary healthcare environment at the Super Clinic.Secure Care Stabilisation and Assessment services will be delivered from Mental Health Inpatients Units atRoyal Darwin and Alice Springs Hospitals to enable the stabilisation and assessment of young people andcognitively impaired adults whose behaviours place them at a high to extreme risk of harm.Secure Care group homes will havecapacity for 24 hours care for up to eightyoung people and eight adults with highrisk behaviours. There will be one facility inDarwin and one in Alice Springs.Department Health and Families 39