PAC4RAC in Implementation Phase
Our important collaborative partnership with NSW Ambulance and Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD), known as PAC4RAC (Providing Appropriate Care 4 Residents in Aged Care), is in full swing.
The project is currently in implementation phase and provides an exciting opportunity for an integrated care model developed across the non-government sector, a state-wide service (NSW Ambulance), and the hospital sector. As such, it has the potential to benefit the whole health system.
Some of the issues the project is aiming to address are:
- To reduce unnecessary transfer of residents to hospitals.
- To increase staff capability and confidence in accurately assessing residents
acute care and increased staff knowledge of available resources within Twilight Aged Care and NSLHD services.
Jamieson House Facility Manager, Claire Banister-Jones is part of the project team for this initiative and she has been working with Facility Managers, Registered Nurses and Personal Care Assistants within Twilight Aged Care, and with families and residents via surveys, focus groups and interviews.
To date Twilight has introduced a new handover form using the same format used by healthcare workers and paramedics to facilitate a ‘common language’ when handing over the clinical needs of the resident; establishing one point of contact for after- hours GP access; using a common tool for assessing a resident’s clinical needs, which is to be used by all aged care facilities in the NSLHD, and a directory of support/ community services available throughout the NSLHD.
By the end of November all the above strategies will be bedded down and the data from admissions to the acute sector via ambulance can be compared from the start of the project to the present.
The project team’s vision is that, ‘Residents from Twilight Aged Care facilities will receive the right care at the right time, from the right people.’