Staff specialists Lynne Aspinall and Rachel Michie
Lending a helping hand to our border colleagues Some of NSLHD’s emergency specialists
on the hospital. “Our work was much the same as elsewhere - seeing and treating patients, facilitating patient flow, supervising and supporting junior medical staff, providing some bedside teaching and liaising with teams, both within the hospital and from the surrounding peripheral hospitals. “It was very busy, overcrowded and under-resourced but the staff were all excellent and we had very positive feedback from both staff and the patients.”
volunteered to lend a hand to our southern colleagues who have been affected by staff shortages due to border closures. Hornsby Ku-ring-gai and Royal North Shore hospitals’ emergency department staff specialists Lynne Aspinall and Rachel Michie recently headed south for a week to work at Albury Base Hospital. Due to the forced border closures between Victoria and NSW, some staff were unable to travel to work, impacting Intellectual disability champions During Mental Health Month, 16 clinicians from the Mental Health Drug and Alcohol (MHDA) teams became district champions for the care of people with an intellectual disability. People with an intellectual disability can experience a number of barriers when they seek access to mental health services. These barriers include communication, a lack of awareness of mental illness symptoms, complexity associated with assessment and practical aspects of accessing services. The MHDA district champions will form a multidisciplinary, district wide team of peers. Their role will be to provide direction and support to staff to ensure the care of people with an intellectual disability who present to our services. MHDA’s senior project manager Kerry Hides-Pearson said the MHDA service was aiming to increase its capacity to care for people with an intellectual disability and co-occurring mental health
Adam Johnston, Consumer Advisor, MHDA
issues. Before becoming champions, the clinicians attended a workshop which included guest speakers including Adam Johnston, a lawyer who is also an MHDA consumer advisor. All staff can participate in the program and are invited to enrol in the online or (limited) face to face training opportunities being offered via My Health Learning. For more information email Kerry. hidespearson@health.nsw.gov.au or phone 8877 5375.
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NSLHDNEWS | ISSUE 22| 20 NOVEMBER 2020
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