Geelong Hospital to benefit from specialist staff deployment

Specialist staff will be deployed to three vital roles at University Hospital Geelong

The State Government made the announcement Sunday Morning, after meeting with National Cabinet on Saturday

The roles are described as Offload Nurses, Triage doctors and Discharge coordinators, and will help offload, assess and treat patients faster to ensure patients are being looked after in the most efficient way.

Offload nurses will help Ambulance Victoria paramedics admit patients in to hospital, allowing paramedics to return to the road sooner.

Triage doctors are responsible for assessing patients as soon as they can, to establish what level of care they need.

Discharge coordinators will focus on the transition from care in the hospital ward to home care, or another healthcare facility.

The package is designed to tackle the challenging flu season as well as the emergency of the Omicron BA.5 variant which has seen a dramatic rise in hospitalisations, as well as health care workers unable to work due to illness.

The State Government is also trialing a program between Ambulance Victoria and select public and private hospitals which will see private hospital emergency departments and acute bed capacity to support all patients, building on existing public and private arrangements through the pandemic.

Image: Geelong University Hospital [L. Zacher]