Coffs Coast Health Sector Blog

Archive for the ‘News’ Category

NBN Enabled Telehealth Pilots Program

The $20.6 million NBN Enabled Telehealth Pilots Program (‘the Program’) is a new government initiative in response to the Government’s Digital Economy Goal for health and aged care (see below).

The Program will provide funding to successful proposals for pilot projects to develop and deliver telehealth services to NBN-enabled homes with a focus on aged, palliative or cancer care services, including advance care planning services. By providing better access to health services to homes within NBN early release sites, the Program will investigate and demonstrate opportunities for the extension of telehealth services in the future and the business case for doing so.

The aim of the Program is to develop and trial services which demonstrate how, for example:

• Telehealth services can be delivered to the home in new and innovative ways, enabled by the high speed, reliable broadband provided by the NBN;
• Health services can become more accessible, in regional, rural, remote and outer metropolitan areas;
• Health related transport needs can be reduced;
• Consumers can collaborate and communicate with their carers and health service providers to improve quality of care and health outcomes;
• A reduction in unnecessary hospitalisation;
• Telehealth services are scalable and able to provide an increased volume of care without a corresponding increased cost;
• Location dependent or regional health workforce skills shortages may be mitigated;
• Use of the infrastructure may increase healthcare access and reduce social isolation; and
• Communication during health emergencies could be improved.

The NBN will provide a platform that allows homes, doctors’ surgeries, pharmacies, clinics, aged-care facilities and allied health professionals to connect to affordable, reliable, high-speed and high-capacity broadband. This represents a major opportunity to improve the way healthcare is delivered in Australia.

Mike White from the UK will be presenting on ARTS & HEALTH
Workforce development in Arts and Health at the Coffs Harbour Regional Gallery

This presentation is for those who work in hospitals, primary care, respite care and rehabilitation, public health, social services settings, community based organisations, schools and places where art therapies are practiced.

MIKE WHITE is a Senior Reserach Fellow at the Centre for Medical Humanities and ST. Chads’ College, University of Durham, UK. In 2005 he was awarded a fellowship of the UK’s National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts to research community based arts in health and build national/international links in this field. A resulting book Arts Development in Community Health – a social tonic was published by Radcliff in 2009.

Hear him speak or participate in a fascinating workshop at the COFFS HARBOUR REGIONAL GALLERY on the following days:

17th AUGUST 4.30 pm for a 5pm start till 6pm
FREE LECTURE

18th August 12.30 – 3.30pm
FREE WORKSHOP

This program was made possible through a Regional Arts NSW Grant

The Coffs Harbour Health Campus, which encompasses the Coffs Harbour Base Hospital (the main public hospital in the Coffs Coast region) has scored very well in a recent audit of patients by the Bureau of Health Information.

The large majority of hospital patients rated their overall care as very good or excellent and said the hospital was very organised, the nurses and staff very courteous and the rooms clean.

Read this Coffs Coast Advocate newspaper report of 28 May 2010 or download the full report from the NSW Bureau of Health Information website: Insights Into Care: Patients’ Perspectives on NSW Public Hospitals.

It’s not only the patients of the Coffs Harbour Health Campus who give it the thumbs up – doctors, nurses, specialists and allied health professionals who work there also rate it highly. Read these testimonials by healthcare professionals working in Coffs Harbour.

Find out more about the Coffs Harbour health sector and medical facilities.

In mid April 2010, it was announced that Coffs Harbour will become the first rural centre in the state to receive a magnetic resonance imaging machine (MRI) in a public hospital. The funding is part of the Federal Government’s $560 million funding of regional cancer facilities.

Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard yesterday announced a $5 million funding boost for Southern Cross University’s Coffs Harbour campus.

“I am pleased to advise that your project ‘Extending Education Capability for Nursing, Teacher Education and Allied Health Courses’ will receive funding of $1.38 million in 2010 and $3.62 million in 2011,” Ms Gillard said.

Southern Cross University was one of only seven universities to receive the maximum grant allocation of $5 million. The funding will help expand courses in areas of national importance such as psychology and nursing and improve vital teaching and learning facilities and student amenities. Read the rest of this entry »

A medical centre in the outer CBD of Coffs Harbour has space available to visiting medicos on a daily basis. There are several consulting rooms and a treatment room plus the reception area etc that might be used.
It has lots of parking with easy access to the airport.
Rent negotiable with time and services used.

For further information contact Steve Little of Colliers International Coffs Harbour
Tel +61 2 6659 9888
steve.little@colliers.com
www.colliers.com/coffsharbour

A website designed to attract health professionals from all over the world to the Coffs Coast in Australia’s northern New South Wales has been launched by Coffs Harbour City Council, in partnership with local health service providers.

coffscoasthealth.net.au emphasises the Coffs Coast’s many attractions for health sector workers looking for a new home that offers a quality lifestyle, a wide range of employment options, easy living and accessibility to national and international destinations.

The website is an important component in a larger recruitment strategy by Coffs Harbour City Council (CHCC) and its partners to advertise the region as a top relocation destination.

coffscoasthealth.net.au will provide a ‘one-stop-shop’ for prospective employees in the sector to research the city and the many job opportunities for health professionals.

“Coffs Harbour City Council has long recognised the importance of health professionals to the region and has created strong partnerships with the public, private and not-for-profit health facilities and providers,” said Coffs Harbour Mayor, Councillor Keith Rhoades.

“The website is an excellent way of showcasing the wide range of career paths and professional development available locally and, perhaps most importantly, will provide a forum for the sector’s employers to advertise their job vacancies.

“We very clearly understand that competition and demand for health professionals is intense throughout Australia, but we know we have a lifestyle that is acknowledged as very hard to beat.

“By launching this website we can directly sell our many attractions to health professionals looking for a new phase in their careers,” he said.

More than 140 students from across the region had their eyes opened to possible careers in the health sector from general practice doctors to psychiatry and nursing, thanks to a ‘Hands On Health’ seminar in Coffs Harbour.

Students from Macksville to Grafton and west to Dorrigo travelled to the Norm Jordan Pavilion at the showground for the seminar, aimed at giving people a wider choice of career paths after school.

Students spent the day in groups speaking directly with people in the profession.

“The feedback from both the presenters and the students has been really positive,” North Coast Youth Career program manager Liz Wilkins said.

“They loved it – the best thing about the day was that the kids had an opportunity to actually speak with people who are in that profession.”

The seminar was a joint effort by Federally-funded North Coast Youth Career Connections, NSW Business Chamber and the Mid North Coast Division of General Practice and funding support provided by the Economic Development Unit of Coffs Harbour City Council.

Click here to view program and registration form: Inspirational Leadership Program

Inspirational Leadership
Macquarie Graduate School of Management
October 29 and 30, 2009
Coffs Harbour

This program demonstrates alternative ways of leading sustainable organisations. It identifies criteria for sustainable leadership practices that can be found in globally successful organisations such as Nokia, Allianz, Porsche, Novartis etc. Sustainable principles include promoting ethical behaviour, long-term thinking and innovation, and valuing employees and other stakeholders such as the community, the environment and future generations. By highlighting a dramatically different approach to leadership which can prove financially, socially and environmentally successful, this program will be a valuable and practical aid for managers looking for new directions and ways of running their business.

This program has been developed in conjunction with Macquarie Graduate School of Management. The program is being subsidized by the IDEAS Project for all participants to the value of approximately $1670. Places are limited to 20.

A partnership between Coffs Harbour City Council and North Coast TAFE

Following an approach by the Coffs Coast Future of Ageing to Coffs Harbour City Council, the Council’s Economic Development Unit has sponsored a Workplace Readiness Program which will be run by NC TAFE in partnership with local representatives of the aged and community services industry. This collaboration will see a pilot program delivered to 24 TAFE students by the end of June and is designed to assist them with orientation to the Industry, providing them with a comprehensive overview of the Industry’s services prior to their study and entry to the workplace.

Read the rest of this entry »