New Mental Health Beds and Comprehensive Out-Of-Hospital Support
Aurora Healthcare Australia recently partnered with health company Medibank to deliver an innovative integrated mental health model that extends hospital care to incorporate additional support services in home and community settings.
The model will focus on providing flexible care pathways including a range of out-of-hospital services such as in-home care, telehealth and care coordination. The iMH hospitals will look to offer these services with no additional costs for patients with eligible private health insurance, apart from any excess or co-payment that would normally apply. These services are typically not included under a traditional psychiatric model of care in the private system.
Aurora Healthcare will contribute two hospitals in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory to iMH, with its Hirondelle Private Hospital in Chatswood to be converted into a 45-bed mental health facility, while Deakin Private Hospital in Canberra will feature 52 beds, including the city’s first dedicated youth private mental health beds.
The joint venture will invest in a new specially designed 56-bed mental health facility to be built in Alexandria, New South Wales.
Aurora Healthcare (Australia) Chief Executive Officer, Julia Strickland-Bellamy, welcomed iMH’s focus on service innovation, flexibility and accessibility in order to meet the growing demand for private mental health services.
“The model will address the clear unmet demand in the community. In our network alone, the wait list for outpatient psychiatry has been at around 6 months over the past 2 years. Providing people with treatment options beyond what has historically been solely hospital-centric care will help to support greater access, choice and flexibility,” Ms Strickland-Bellamy said.
“A patient might access treatment at home or in the community following a hospital admission, or alternatively access these services if a hospital admission is not required in the first instance.
“It’s ultimately about the most appropriate treatment pathway for each individual patient, regardless of their private health insurer. All decisions about their suitability for the model will be made by the patient alongside their doctor and the hospital’s clinical team,” she said.
New Opportunities for Sub-Specialty Services in Expanded Hospital
People first, people always. Aurora Healthcare Australia always creates new, bigger and better facilities to better serve the growing demands in the community.
By increasing its capacity by around a third to 185 beds, Belmont Private Hospital in Queensland now has a series of new facilities including a dedicated 24-bed combined Perinatal and Women’s Unit, a 10-bed Young Adult and Adolescent Unit, a refurbished Trauma and Dissociation Unit, and a further 12 beds to the Older Adult Mental Health Unit. The redevelopment also creates 14 additional specialist consulting suites, 10 new therapy group rooms and 70 new carpark spaces over three levels.
The expansion gives patients easier access to high-quality treatment in Australia’s largest private mental health hospitals, and also creates new opportunities for the hospital’s sub-specialty services.
Julia said: “Each year we service 20,000 inpatient admissions for mental health hospital care, as well as 100,000 day patient attendances for our mental health therapy programs. As our nation’s leading specialised private mental health care operator, we want to destigmatise mental illness by delivering a comprehensive service that fosters safety, comfort and accessible evidence-based treatment, in a facility that is nothing short of exceptional,” she said.
