Page 3005 - Week 08 - Thursday, 15 August 2019
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I also had the opportunity to talk with several of the more than 300 staff and their patients at UCH’s first birthday and was pleased to hear from them how positive their experience has been, despite the sometimes trying circumstances that patients find themselves in.
MS CHEYNE: Minister, what services and facilities does UCH offer to patients?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Ms Cheyne for the supplementary question. The University of Canberra Hospital is a purpose-built specialist centre for rehabilitation, research and recovery, providing subacute rehabilitation care and support for adults who are experiencing mental illness or recovering from surgery, illness or injury.
At capacity, UCH provides 140 overnight rehabilitation beds, including 20 adult mental health rehabilitation beds managed by mental health, justice health and alcohol and drug services. In addition to the inpatient beds, the hospital offers, as I mentioned, day places consisting of a mix of adult mental health and rehabilitation day places. People using the day service will be admitted to the hospital to attend for full or half-day rehabilitation programs throughout the week, enabling them to stay in their homes during their rehabilitation.
Ambulatory and non-admitted rehabilitation services are also provided from this facility. Specialist programs undertaken at UCH include rehabilitation medicine outpatient clinics, a falls assessment and prevention service, hydrotherapy, a driver assessment and rehabilitation service, a vestibular rehabilitation service, a focal spasticity clinic, a speech and occupational therapy assistive technology clinic and the vocational assessment and rehabilitation service.
The mental health day program provides a range of group programs, including dialectical behaviour therapy, mood management, anxiety management, depression management, and a recovering from psychosis and mindfulness skills-based program.
It is also important to note that, given that UCH is a rehabilitation facility, of course, it does not have an emergency department and it does not perform surgical operations. The closest emergency department is at Calvary Public Hospital or the Canberra Hospital.
MS CODY: Minister, how does having a dedicated public rehabilitation hospital fit into the government’s territory-wide health services strategy?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Ms Cody for the supplementary question and for her interest in the government’s territory-wide health services strategy. As I have said, UCH is Canberra’s first dedicated rehabilitation facility. Its establishment saw the consolidation of public rehabilitation, subacute and mental health rehabilitation services into one facility, creating a territory-wide centre for subacute rehabilitation care and planning for subacute rehabilitation needs.
Moving patients out of an acute hospital setting into a purpose-built environment promotes recovery and encourages independence and autonomy. In providing services
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