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The Access Unit: Facilitating Entry to an Aged Care Program
Author(s) -
Callaghan J.D.,
Katz B.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
australasian journal on ageing
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.63
H-Index - 34
eISSN - 1741-6612
pISSN - 1440-6381
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-6612.1998.tb00034.x
Subject(s) - unit (ring theory) , referral , medicine , health care , service (business) , medical emergency , health services , nursing , business , psychology , environmental health , political science , population , mathematics education , marketing , law
. The Access Unit was established in 1995 to provide a single point of entry to programs provided by North West Hospital in Victoria. All telephone enquiries are now answered by health care professionals who are able to provide an immediate clinical response. Each referral is triaged to an appropriate service, whether provided by North West Hospital or elsewhere. The establishment of the Access Unit has not only improved clinical management, it has identified a number of deficiencies in the hospital's protocols which have now been addressed. Following the successful implementation of this model in the subacute sector, the Western Healthcare Network is investigating the feasibility of expanding it to the acute hospital sector.