The Northern Sydney Local Health District (NSLHD) and NORTH Foundation Grants Program has awarded funding to five projects in its most recent round, totalling $160,000. The theme for the round was focused on ideas to improve patient services and the successful projects came from different locations across the NSLHD. Each project aims to help a particular group, including Parkinson’s Disease patients, community aged care and those in rehabilitation after an illness, injury or surgery.
- Parkinson’s Inpatient Experience (Royal North Shore Hospital Neurology): $50,000
This aim of this project is to reduce the length of stay and readmissions for Parkinson’s patients at RNSH. It will involve research and the engagement of stakeholders who are at the coalface of service provision to identify the key issues that contribute to current data around length of stay and readmissions. The expertise of these stakeholders will be used to develop targeted solutions and ensure that improvements to service delivery and patient outcomes are sustainable.
- Outdoor Mobility Garden (Ryde Hospital – Graythwaite Rehabilitation Centre): $50,000
All inpatient rehab patients, day program and outpatients including acute care and community aged care will be able to access this garden. The inpatient rehab service has a 44 bed-patient capacity and community aged care has 80+ outpatients passing through their service each week. The plan is to have one-on-one sessions as well as group sessions in the garden each day. Overall, it is anticipated that the garden would be used every hour on a daily basis during clinician working hours.
- Smart Car (Ryde Hospital – Graythwaite Rehabilitation Centre): $10,000
Use of a “Smart for two” car in assessing and educating patients and their carers in safely getting in and out of a car, following illness, injury or surgery. It will give patients the opportunity to attempt this essential task in a safe and supported environment and allow for increased confidence as part of their discharge process.
- OACCP Knee Brace Provision (Royal North Shore Hospital Chronic Care Program): $30,000
This project is funding the Ossur unloader knee brace for patients to help relieve osteoarthritis symptoms and improve a patient’s quality of life, delaying the need for possible surgery. The grant funding will assist 100-200 patients access expensive equipment that is otherwise unattainable.
- Vancomycin Monitoring ‘Dose Me’ Pilot (Royal North Shore Hospital Pharmacy): $20,000
This project is a one-year pilot to trial software, ‘Dose Me’, used for therapeutic drug monitoring of antimicrobials. The software uses forecasting to determine optimal antibiotic dosing based on blood drug levels. The one-year trial will allow the team to test the implementation and feasibility of offering this ongoing service at RNSH. Multiple services are aligned including emergency, ICU and pharmacy and this work will have various benefits for patients.
Applications for the grants program are assessed by the NORTH Foundation and the NSLHD Funding Advisory Committee (FAC). The purpose of the FAC is to work in partnership with the NORTH Foundation to distribute untied and semi-tied funds fairly and equitably across the NSLHD.
The program launched in June 2021 to provide a new opportunity for staff across the NSLHD to access untied funding received from compassionate donors who are committed to healthcare and better patient outcomes. Click here to learn more about the NSLHD and NORTH Foundation Grants Program.
