Background
Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital (SCGH) in Western Australia is a 600-bed tertiary hospital with established Orthogeriatrics and Vascular-geriatrics shared care services. The Neurosurgical department is the quarternary centre for neurosurgery in WA with a 45 bed unit. In July 2021-June 2022 a total 1454 patients were treated in the department of which 34% were over 65 years old (62 % emergency and 35% elective).
Change
In 2021, the Geriatric and Acute Rehabilitation Medicine (GARM) department embarked on a pilot shared-care model of service with the Neurosurgery department. This was modelled on the successful Orthogeriatric and Vascular-geriatric services with embedded Consultant Geriatrician and Medical Registrar presence on the surgical ward providing proactive consultation for patients aged 65 and over.
This is the first service of its kind reported in Australia.
Learnings
The success of the Neurosurgical-Geris service was built upon years of experience with the Orthogeriatrics and Vascular-geriatrics services.
The importance of building relationships
Getting Hospital Executive Support
Delivery of better comprehensive care to the older surgical inpatient; supporting and building the ward Multidisciplinary team; providing additional support and education to junior doctors on surgical rotations to enhance training and wellbeing