After-hours care boost

INNOVATION grants are on offer to help streamline the region’s after-hours healthcare system and avoid clogging emergency departments.

The grants, available across the Western Victorian Primary Health Network, could help fund projects to encourage collaboration between health services or materials to educate patients on after-hours options.

Western Victoria Primary Health Network CEO Leanne Beagley said $250,000 was available, which would be distributed in one-off grants worth between $10,000 and $20,000.

“We’re asking service providers to think about whether they could use some additional grant funding to help … (make) after-hours care that’s already there more accessible,” Dr Beagley said.

Dr Beagley suggested that workshops on making afterhours care more collaborative and education materials to help patients know where they could access after-hours care, are some of the initiatives the grants could help fund.

“It’s … about collaboration and advertising, whatever local providers might need a bit of extra funding to do,” she said. “We want to prevent people becoming really unwell.”

Dr Beagley said projects could also help prevent people spending long periods of time at hospital emergency departments.

Earlier this year, a Geelong Advertiser investigation revealed Geelong hospital’s emergency department was being flooded with non-urgent presentations.

Some of the cases witnessed across three separate days included:

A STUDENT who rolled his ankle at school;

A WOMAN who jarred her thumb playing mixed basketball and;

MULTIPLE people with colds, coughs and chest infections.

Tenders for the grants close on January 21. The grants are advertised at tenderlink.com