The clinic helping cancer patients navigate their treatment The Symptom Urgent Review Clinic (SURC)
because there wasn’t an alternative model of care to manage symptoms from cancer treatment,” she said. “The aim of the SURC is to give patients a place to go for assessment of symptoms. “The new model of care has provided a pathway for patients and their carers to navigate their treatment.” Meredith said patients are often referred to the clinic from the cancer helpline. “Patients that call the cancer helpline are triaged and can be referred to the clinic for assessment and management of their symptoms,” she said. “Patients can also self-refer to the clinic by calling the cancer helpline for an appointment.” The SURC operates within the Northern Sydney Cancer Centre and is open Monday to Friday from 8am – 3pm daily. use one. Many staff reported they were unaware when they should provide an interpreter and whose responsibility it was to organise one,” she said. The poster and tent cards are designed to be placed in high-traffic areas like waiting rooms, lifts, nurses’ stations, and reception desks. The videos will be distributed digitally as part of staff training and orientation, on electronic notice boards in waiting areas and via social media and email networks to consumers.
is helping medical oncology patients, undergoing cancer treatment across the district, navigate their cancer treatment. The SURC operates alongside the Northern Sydney Cancer Centre Cancer Helpline and is operated by an experienced medical oncology nurse practitioner who assesses, diagnoses and manages a variety of medical complications that may arise during cancer treatment. The clinic has operated since 2018 and has received continual positive feedback from patients who use the service. Nurse Practitioner Meredith Oatley (pictured on front cover), who helps run the clinic, said the SURC increases the likelihood of early treatment intervention for patients as well as reducing emergency department (ED) presentations. “In the past patients would present to EDs
New Health Care Interpreter Resources Launched The Multicultural Health Service launched a new suite of resources promoting the use of health care interpreters during the recent NSLHD Interpreter Week.
The resource suite features two video resources exploring the importance of working with professional health care interpreters when providing care to consumers with limited or no English language proficiency. It also includes an A4 poster and tent card advertising the availability of free interpreters in a health care setting. The resources were developed in collaboration with consumers in response to ongoing reports from the NSLHD CALD Consumer Advisory Group that consumers are often unaware of their right to access an interpreter were not offered an
interpreter by health care staff. Health Literacy and Community Partnerships Officer Kaidee Dick, said that promoting the health care interpreter Service to both consumers and health care staff was the key to increasing interpreter usage within the district. “During the development of these resources, it became clear that we needed to target both staff and consumers, many consumers didn’t know they were entitled to access an interpreter, didn’t feel confident to ask or thought there was a cost involved, making them reluctant to
Interpreter Week stall at Hornsby Hospital
WWW.NSLHD.HEALTH.NSW.GOV.AU
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